Chicago Reader: print issue of December 10, 2015 (Volume 45, Number 11)

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 0 , 2 0 1 5

TENNIS PRODIGY Tyra Richardson

PEOPLE IS SU E THE

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EDITOR JAKE MALOOLEY CREATIVE DIRECTOR PAUL JOHN HIGGINS DEPUTY EDITOR, NEWS ROBIN AMER CULTURE EDITOR TAL ROSENBERG FILM EDITOR J.R. JONES MUSIC EDITOR PHILIP MONTORO ASSOCIATE EDITORS KATE SCHMIDT, KEVIN WARWICK, BRIANNA WELLEN SENIOR WRITERS STEVE BOGIRA, MICHAEL MINER, MIKE SULA SENIOR THEATER CRITIC TONY ADLER STAFF WRITERS LEOR GALIL, DEANNA ISAACS, BEN JORAVSKY, AIMEE LEVITT, PETER MARGASAK, JULIA THIEL PHOTO EDITOR ANDREA BAUER GRAPHIC DESIGNER SUE KWONG MUSIC LISTINGS COORDINATOR LUCA CIMARUSTI SOCIAL MEDIA COORDINATOR RYAN SMITH CONTRIBUTING WRITERS NOAH BERLATSKY, JENA CUTIE, MATT DE LA PEÑA, ANNE FORD, ISA GIALLORENZO, JOHN GREENFIELD, JUSTIN HAYFORD, JACK HELBIG, DAN JAKES, BILL MEYER, SARAH NARDI, J.R. NELSON, MARISSA OBERLANDER, BEN SACHS, ZAC THOMPSON, DAVID WHITEIS, ALBERT WILLIAMS INTERNS KEVIN QUIN, MANUEL RAMOS, KACIE TRIMBLE ---------------------------------------------------------------SENIOR ACCOUNT MANAGER EVANGELINE MILLER ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES MARISSA DAVIS, AARON DEETS MARKETING AND EVENTS MANAGER BRYAN BURDA DIRECTOR OF DIGITAL JOHN DUNLEVY BUSINESS MANAGER STEFANIE WRIGHT 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. © 2015 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: PHOTO OF TYRA RICHARDSON BY JEFFREY MARINI. FOR MORE OF MARINI’S WORK GO TO JEFFREYMARINI.COM

IN THIS ISSUE 4 Agenda Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, Jared Hess’s new film Don Verdean, and more recommendations

There’s more of the People Issue online!

Zinester Ed Blair, brewer Claudia Jendron, and poet/ singer Jamila Woods, tell their stories at chicagoreader.com /people.

MUSIC

45 Shows of note Joanna Newsom, Goatsnake, Deerhunter, Vince Staples, Girlyboi, Advance Base, and more

CLASSIFIEDS

49 Jobs, Apartments & Spaces 50 Marketplace

ò BILL WHITMIRE; LUCY HEWETT (JENDRON)

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

THIS WEEK

52 Straight Dope How do all those mattress stores manage to stay in business?

53 Savage Love Should a broke 24-year-old “prostitute himself” for $3,000?

54 Early Warnings Animal Collective, Bruce Springsteen, Slayer, and more concerts on the horizon 54 Gossip Wolf Tim Kinsella publishes a harrowing Make Believe tour diary, and more music news.

ON CHICAGOREADER.COM

THE PEOPLE ISSUE 2015 Eighteen Chicagoans in their own words

TRANSPORTATION

“COMMUNITIES LIKE OURS are only as strong as the human capital they can retain and attract,” Juan Salgado says on PAGE 21. As president and CEO of the advocacy and education organization Instituto del Progreso Latino, the recently designated MacArthur “genius” is speaking specifically of immigrant communities on the city’s southwest side.

But the sentiment applies more generally to the whole of Chicago.

People, in many ways, make the place. That’s the basic principle that underlies this issue. The 18 Chicagoans featured are from all walks of life—different scenes or subcultures or professional worlds. What unites them, I believe, is absolute commitment, whether it be to diversifying the tech field (PAGE 23) or sustainable neighborhood development (PAGE 12) or fine beer service (PAGE 24) or even a robust wall of ivy (PAGE 10).

Hunger striker Anna Jones (PAGE 8) and concerned citizen George Blakemore (PAGE 18) have dedicated themselves to battles against city bureaucracy. Commitment to craft helped DJ Marea Stamper (PAGE 39) and experimental composer Jamal Moss (PAGE 42) weather years of relative obscurity. Twelve-year-old cover girl Tyra Richardson has devoted three-quarters of her young life to becoming one of the country’s shining junior tennis stars. Meanwhile, theater artist Stephanie Díaz (PAGE 31) and stand-up Junior Stopka (PAGE 33) are committed to staying here, flying in the face of expectations in their chosen industries that they would move coastward. If, as Salgado says, our community is only as strong as the talent we retain, Chicago’s doing just fine. —JAKE MALOOLEY

A battle between urbanism and suburbanism Fed up with the Jefferson Park Neighborhood Association’s hostility towards walkable, transit-friendly development, newer residents launch their own community group.

BY JOHN GREENFIELD

VIDEO STAND-UP COMEDIAN Junior Stopka, featured on page 33, bellies up to the bar to talk about his technique for doing a Chicago accent, his distaste for “white guys with dreadlocks,” and how his fists helped him deal with a particularly abusive heckler. Watch the video at chicagoreader.com/people.

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F comfortable though boring marriages, the ladies—whose stuffy husbands (Jesse Dornan and Fred Geyer) have conveniently left town for a golfing holiday—are jolted by news of an imminent visit from Maurice (Joshua Moaney), a dashing Frenchman with whom both women had had affairs prior to getting married. Written when Coward was in his early 20s, this Jazz Age gem—daring in its day for skewering conventional attitudes about female friendship and sexuality—hilariously mixes stylish sophistication with screwball zaniness.

—ALBERT WILLIAMS Through 1/10: Thu 7:30 PM (except 12/31, 2:30 PM only), Fri-Sat 7:30 PM (no show 12/25), Sun 2:30 PM, Greenhouse Theater Center, 2257 N. Lincoln, 773-404-7336, remybumppo.org, $42.50-$52.50.

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Beautiful: The Carole King Musical " SUN-TIMES MEDIA

THEATER

More at chicagoreader.com/ theater Beautiful: The Carole King R Musical “Beautiful” isn’t really the word to describe this jukebox musi-

cal covering the early career of Carole King, from her precocious start grinding out hits for pop impresario Don Kirshner to her apotheosis as the boom-generation madonna of the Tapestry album.

“Sweet” seems more apt. “Fun.” And most particularly, “comfortable.” King has had her sorrows—her difficult marriage to writing partner Gerry Goffin constitutes the central trauma of the show. But you never worry about her here, partly because you know what triumphs are coming and partly because she’s so plucky, droll, and well nurtured by supportive friends. Fellow songwriting greats Barry Mann and Cynthia Weill come across like Jerry and Millie, the neighbors on The Dick Van Dyke Show. Indeed, Douglas McGrath’s book goes out of its way to avoid trouble, never exploring what’s obvious onstage: the racial divide between King and the artists who sang her biggest Kirshner-era songs. That’s too bad inasmuch as the period was so full of implication for artists on both sides of the divide and American musical history as a whole. The compensation is dozens of great songs by King and her peers, from “Up on the Roof” to “You’ve Got a Friend”—all performed, yes, beautifully.

—TONY ADLER Through 2/21: Wed 2 and 7:30 PM, Thu 7:30 (except 12/24, 2 PM), Fri 7:30 PM (no shows 12/25 and 1/1), Sat 2 and 8 PM, Sun 2; also Sun 12/27, 7:30 PM; Thu 12/31, 2 PM, Ford Center for the Performing Arts, Oriental Theatre, 24 W. Randolph, 800-775-2000, broadwayinchicago.com, $47-$137.

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Christmas Dearest Hell in a Handbag artistic director David Cerda wrote and stars in this sublimely awful musical about Joan Crawford starring in a sublimely awful musical about the life of Jesus Christ (she’s the Blessed Virgin, natch). Forcing her

cast to work on December 25, the diva earns visitations from two Christmas spirits—and Bette Davis—who attempt to revive her dormant humanity. Corrupting A Christmas Carol with vulgar, campy hysterics yields almost nonstop delights—and even bits of wisdom.

—JUSTIN HAYFORD Through 12/27: ThuSat 7:30 PM (no shows 12/24-12/25), Sun 6:30 PM; also Wed 12/16 and 12/23, 7:30 PM, Mary’s Attic Theatre, 5400 N. Clark, 773-784-6969, hamburgermaryschicago. com, $15-$25.

The Christmas Schooner “The R heartbeat of our life is in our stories and our songs” goes a line in

this musical, the true story of the Rouse Simmons, the Great Lakes schooner that first brought Christmas trees to Chicago from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

The voyage was made for Chicago’s 19th-century German immigrants longing for the celebrations of home; the trees quickly became a festive tradition. I sat among the ancestors of these German sailors in the matinee audience; they return for the musical year after year, and it’s clear why: the production is sharp and moving (however overwrought the plotting in act two becomes, act one is wholly mesmerizing), with goose-bump-inducing music.

This not-secular story nonetheless offers the best of the nonsecular holiday spirit: tradition, family, memory. Let’s hope that one day we can celebrate 21st-century immigrants with the same warmth and gratitude. —SUZANNE SCANLON Through 12/26: Wed 8 PM, Thu 3 and 8 PM, Fri 8 PM, Sat 3 and 8 PM, Sun 3 PM, Mercury Theater, 3745 N. Southport, 773-325-1700, mercurytheaterchicago.com, $25-$69.

The Lion King In what should be the first act’s highest emotional peak, lion cub and heir apparent Simba gets caught amid stampeding wildebeests.

When Simba’s father, King Mufasa, leaps to the rescue, the king ends up in the clutches of his unctuous, regicidal brother, Scar. Like most scenes in Julie Taymor’s 1997 Broadway blockbuster, this one’s dazzlingly staged, ingeniously designed, and emotionally empty (apparently no one even bothered to tell the kid playing Simba to act, you know, scared). Unlike Disney’s efficient 75-minute animated feature, Taymor’s semistatic two-and-a-half-hour pageant pays scant attention to the fundamentals of storytelling. All the inventive puppetry, glorious choral singing, and eye-popping scenery serves mostly to glorify itself.

And does Patrick R. Brown really have to make villainous Scar so queeny?

—JUSTIN HAYFORD Through 1/17: Wed 2 and 7:30 PM, Thu 7:30 PM (except 12/24 and 12/31, 2 PM), Fri 7:30 PM (no shows 12/25 and 1/1), Sat 2 and 7:30 PM, Sun 1 and 6:30 PM, Cadillac Palace Theatre, 151 W. Randolph, 312-902-1400, $32-$167.

My Way: A Musical Tribute to R Frank Sinatra In a season of overindulgence, here’s a show for peo-

ple who want to overindulge in Ol’ Blue Eyes. The playbill lists 51 song titles sung with varying degrees of ability—from not bad to amazing—by a young, energetic

Fallen Angels Noël Coward’s R rarely revived 1925 farce is a giddy delight in the hands of Remy

Bumppo Theatre Company. Director Shannon Cochran and her excellent cast enhance Coward’s cheeky repartee with unexpected physical comedy. The “fallen angels” of the title are London society wives Jane (Eliza Stoughton) and Julia (Emjoy Gavino), best friends since their schoolgirl days. Settled contentedly into

The Christmas Schooner " BRETT A. BEINER

four-person ensemble. Carl Herzog, the best singer in this Theo Ubique production, really knows how to belt ’em out, and though he’s no dead ringer for Sinatra, he’s got the moves down cold.

Songbird Kyrie Anderson is a close second; when she and Herzog are together they sizzle. The real stars, though, are the three guys in the band: Kevin Brown, Jake Saleh, and musical director Jeremy Ramey on piano. This hot trio could carry the show if they had to. —JACK HELBIG Through 1/10: Thu 7:30 PM, FriSat 8 PM, Sun 7 PM, No Exit Cafe, 6970 N. Glenwood, 773-743-3355, theo-u.com, $34, $29 students and seniors.

Potted Potter Cowritten and R performed by British comic actors Daniel Clarkson and Jefferson Turner,

this 70-minute romp takes us through the high points of all seven Harry Potter books. The comic style is loose and glib, full of silliness and variations on classic physical comedy bits. But the show is also well grounded in Potteriana (not surprising, inasmuch as it started out as a brief entertainment for crowds queued up to buy copies of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince). Clarkson and Turner know their Potter backward and forward, a fact that left my 11-year-old daughter and many other well-versed fans giggling throughout the show. The duo have that strong comic chemistry one associates with teams like the Smothers Brothers, Martin & Lewis, and Peter Cook and Dudley Moore.

—JACK HELBIG Through 1/3: Tue-Fri 7:30 PM, Sat-Sun 1 and 4 PM; weekday matinees beginning 12/22; see website, Broadway Playhouse, 175 E. Chestnut, 800-775-2000, broadwayinchicago.com, $36.95-$66.95.

A Q Brothers Christmas Carol R In this, the year of Hamilton, Lin-Manuel Miranda’s many new fans

would do well to check out this holiday hit by the Q Brothers ensemble. Four seasoned performers spit couplets and retell Charles Dickens’s inescapable ghost story as a modern urban parable.

An anti-immigrant miser with a wig factory (can you guess which presidential candidate gets roasted?) gets haunted by rappers and singers past, present,

Park Conservatory, 2391 N. Stockton, 312742-7736, midsommerflight.com. F

DANCE R

The Catch Dancing on the Spot presents a performance of improvisational dance, a one-act play, and original music by Robert Hornbostel.

Thu 12/10-Fri 12/11, 7:30 PM, Hamlin Park Fieldhouse Theater, 3035 N. Hoyne, 312-742-7785, onthespottheatrecompany. weebly.com, $12.

Cameron Esposito " MANDEE JOHNSON and future, including a Rastafarian Marley. It’s an unabashedly silly and brilliantly efficient reminder that alt-Christmas shows can be just as heartwarming and family friendly as the classics. —DAN JAKES Through 1/3: Tue-Fri 7:30 PM (no shows 12/24-12/25), Sat 6 and 8 PM, Sun 3 and 6 PM, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, 800 E. Grand, 312-595-5600, chicagoshakes.com, $30-$40.

Robin Hood and Maid Marian It’s good of Forks & Hope to remind us that Alfred Lord Tennyson wrote plays as well as verse, but actually performing one of them seems excessive. Titled The Foresters, Tennyson’s 1892 retelling of the Robin Hood legend centers on the edenic community the Earl of Huntingdon founds after running afoul of tyrannical Prince John (he of the Magna Carta) and taking refuge in Sherwood Forest. His followers are simple, honest, cheerful folk with nary a traitor among them. Imagine a sort of Teletubby As You Like It. The F&H folks seem to know there’s a problem and, in this adaptation directed by Matt Pierce, try to compensate by adding lightly parodic touches.

Doesn’t really work. —TONY ADLER Through 12/29: Sat 4 PM, Sun noon, MonTue 8 PM, Strawdog Theatre Company, 3829 N. Broadway, 773-528-9696, strawdog.org, $15.

Twelfth Night Following the R biological imperative that the dark nights around the solstice should

be filled with as much light as possible, Midsommer Flight has brought its Shakespeare-in-the-parks act indoors with a bright and joyful rendition of Twelfth Night at the Lincoln Park Conservatory. The cast has great fun with Shakespeare’s tale of love and mistaken identity (a plot summary that, yes, could apply to almost all the comedies), particularly Jared Dennis as Malvolio, Elizabeth Rentfro (who also cocomposed the original music) as Maria, and Adam Habben as Sir Andrew Aguecheek, who challenges Meredith Ernst’s impassioned Viola to a hilariously inept swordfight.

I should make a special mention, too, of Elizabeth Shorrock’s costumes, all of which I coveted. —AIMEE LEVITT Through 12/19: Fri-Sun 7:30 PM, Lincoln

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Tidings of Tap Chicago Tap Theatre’s annual holiday performance.

12/11-12/13: Fri 7:30 PM, Sat 3 and 7:30 PM, Sun 3 PM, UIC Theatre, 1044 W. Harrison, 773-655-1175, chicagotaptheatre.com, $35.

COMEDY

Cameron Esposito The Chicago R native returns to tape her new stand-up special. Thu 12/10, 8 and 10:30

Johalla Projects “Silenced Prayers,” Heather Gabel’s collages explore religion, gender, and representation.

Opening reception Fri 12/11, 7-10 PM. 12/11-1/22, 1821 W. Hubbard, johallaprojects@gmail.com, johallaprojects.com.

Museum of Contemporary Art “Self-Portrait in a Kanye Mirror,” the lecture series “Homeroom: School Night” presents a multimedia look at how Yeezus has impacted educators, artists, and all of us really. Tue 12/15, 6 PM, 220 E. Chicago, 312-280-2660, homeroomchicago.org/101, free with admission.

LIT

JeanMarie Brownson The R Chicago Tribune columnist and co-owner of Frontera Foods discusses

and demos recipes from her new cookbook, Dinner at Home. Sun 12/13, 2-4 PM, Read It and Eat, 2142 N. Halsted, 773-6616158, readitandeatstore.com, $20, $49.95 with book.

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

R

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MOVIES

More at chicagoreader.com/ movies NEW REVIEWS The Big Short Adapted from a nonfiction best seller by Michael Lewis (Moneyball), this ambitious but lumbering comedy looks at a handful of peripheral investors who predicted and figured out how to profit from the collapse of the U.S. housing market in 2007 and ‘08.

This is a story of complex financial instruments and not-too-complex people: writer-director Adam McKay, best known for broad comedies like Anchorman and Talladega Nights, riffs on the financial arcana that hid the growing crisis from a trivia-obsessed public—in a typical gag,

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Christmas Vacation Fri, Sun-Thr, Dec. 11, 13-17 @ 8:00pm

Love The Coopers

Fri, Sun-Thr, Dec. 11, 13-17 @ 10:00pm

25th Anniversary Screenings

Edward Scissorhands Sunday, December 13 @ 3:30pm

Bridge of Spies Sat. Dec. 12 Terror In The Aisles presents:

Return of the Living Dead Tickets: returnofthelivingdead.bpt.me

PM, Thalia Hall, 1227 W. 18th, 312-5263851, thaliahallchicago.com, $18, $16 in advance.

Gender by Us The musical number that kicks off N20‘s sketch-comedy show assures us that gender roles have changed a lot recently. If that’s so, how come most of what follows could have come from a collegiate revue in 1976?

You won’t hear anything about “leaning in,” Planned Parenthood funding, or transgender folk. Instead, there’s lots of tired battle-of-the-sexes stuff involving macho jerks, cartoonish feminists, and debates about holding doors for women (a subject the show returns to repeatedly). The one stab at topicality—a hoedown starring Kentucky clerk and gay-marriage foe Kim Davis—has little to do with gender and relies on mean-spirited southern stereotypes.

As in the rest of the production, the targets are too easy, the laughs nonexistent. —ZAC THOMPSON Through 12/17: Thu 8 PM, Public House Theatre, 3914 N. Clark, 800-650-6449, pubhousetheatre.com, $12 includes PBR.

VISUAL ARTS Beauty & Brawn Art Gallery and Think Space “The Writing’s on the Wall,” work by Los Angeles-based street artist Morley. The opening reception (Sat 12/12, 6-10 PM) features music

by DJ KRB and beer from Sweetwater Brewing Co. 12/12-2/20, 3501 W. Fullerton, 773-772-9808, beautyandbrawngallery.com.

Jean Albano Gallery Sid Block’s Life Celebration, a celebration of Printworks co-owner Sidney Block’s life on what would have been his 92nd birthday. Wed 12/16, 5:30 PM, 215 W. Superior, 312-4400770, jeanalbanogallery.com.

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“The Writing’s on the Wall” at Beauty & Brawn Art Gallery and Think Space " COURTESY BEAUTY AND BRAWN GALLERY

Recommended Reading R Night The debut of this new series from WCF features Aleksander

Hemon, Gina Frangello, Christine Sneed, Rebecca Makkai, and Eric Charles May discussing their favorite books of the year. There’s also snacks, wine, cider, and live music. Wed 12/16, 7 PM, Women & Children First, 5233 N. Clark, 773-769-9299, womenandchildrenfirst.com.

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Unabridged 35th Anniversary Party A party with treats prepared by the store’s cookbook-testing team, raffles of some of the owner’s favorite books, and a photo retrospective of the store’s growth from storefront to neighborhood institution.

Sat 12/12, 6-9 PM, Unabridged Bookstore, 3251 N. Broadway, 773-883-9119, unabridgedbookstore.com.

University of Chicago economist Richard Thayer is paired with pop singer Selena Gomez to explain synthetic collateralized debt obligations—but he can’t get his arms around the various speculators, who know each other tangentially if at all and who hardly redeem themselves with their pro forma hand-wringing over the ordinary people who’ll be destroyed when the bubble bursts. With Christian Bale, Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, Brad Pitt, Melissa Leo, and Marisa Tomei.

—J.R. JONES R, 130 min. River East 21 The Danish Girl Director Tom Hooper, a tedious exemplar of the British tradition of quality (The King’s Speech), hops on the recent bandwagon for transgender stories with this Oscar-bait adaptation of David Ebershoff’s 2000 novel about Lili Elbe, one of the first people to undergo sex-reassignment surgery. Eddie Red- !

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is owned and the group led by a young, laconic married couple (Keith Poulson, Deragh Campbell) whose motives are as inscrutable as their expressions; the stories of their dysfunctional houseguests, including a junkie father-daughter duo and a pretty newcomer with a taste for violence, are similarly hazy and loose-ended. There’s a horror film in here somewhere, with the creepy synth score and the recurrent closeups of twisting, blemished faces, but Silver wisely demurs: the stench of spiritual decay is disturbing enough.

—LEAH PICKETT 70 min. Facets Cinematheque

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AGENDA

Don Verdean B mayne stars as Einar Wegener, a Danish artist in the 1920s who develops a passion for cross-dressing and eventually identifies as Elbe; Alicia Vikander is his loyal wife, who stands by him even after he decides to risk everything on the unproven surgical procedure. Hooper’s staid treatment hardly complements the subject matter, and the stuffy tone is only exacerbated by Redmayne’s drippy performance. (Decked out in a red wig and gown, he’s a ringer for Jessica Chastain.) With Ben Whishaw, Matthias Schoenaerts, and Sebastian Koch. —J.R. JONES R, 120 min. Century 12 and CineArts 6, Landmark’s Century Centre

Fassbender and Marion Cotillard contribute stiff, actorly performances, and director Justin Kurzel seems more concerned with getting the right squishy sound for a dagger thrust to the intestines than with any kind of thematic thrust. In the screenplay’s most notable innovation, Macduff’s wife and son are not murdered by soldiers but burned at the stake for all the community to witness, though a jump cut elides their actual consumption by fire; it’s emblematic of a movie that longs to be tasteful and sordid at the same time. With David Thewlis and Paddy Considine. —J. R. JONES R, 113 min.

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Don Verdean Napoleon R Dynamite (2004) made Jared and Jerusha Hess the

Paradise Is There Natalie Merchant’s 1995 album Tigerlily wowed critics with its stripped-down lyricism, launching the singer on a solo career after her stint with 10,000 Maniacs. In this pleasant but unpenetrating “video memoir,” produced to accompany a 20th-anniversary rerecording of Tigerlily, Merchant explores the album’s impact on her fans and on her own artistic development. Dissenting or even complicating voices—including those of her former bandmates—are absent, but this contains many treats for hardcore fans. Concert footage shows Merchant’s resonant voice to be undiminished and even enhanced by the fuller orchestration on the songs; there’s also a touching interview with two fans affected by a rare degenerative skin disease who identified with her song “Wonder.” —NATHALIE LAGERFELD 80 min. Merchant attends the screening. Sat 12/12, 8 PM. Gene Siskel Film Center

freshest new voices in American screen comedy; Nacho Libre (2006) made them embarrassing onetrick ponies. I haven’t seen their Gentleman Broncos (2009), but this fourth feature, a lampoon of Christian pseudohistory, shows them breaking new ground and scoring plenty of laughs. Sam Rockwell applies his usual deft touch to the title character, whose born-again ministry is founded on his dubious excavation of religious relics in Israel, but whose charlatanism serves a sincere and abiding faith.

Amy Ryan is his gullible, adoring research assistant, and just as the satirical dividends begin to give out, Jemaine Clement jump-starts the movie with his sly performance as a scheming, lovelorn Israeli guiding the Americans around the Valley of Elah in search of Goliath’s skull. With Will Forte and Danny McBride. —J.R. JONES PG-13, 96 min. Gene Siskel Film Center Macbeth Middlebrow hucksters Bob and Harvey Weinstein serve up a Shakespeare adaptation for the holiday season, opting for the medieval-historical angle: the Scottish soldiers all stomp around in grungy Braveheart war paint, and the settings consist mainly of candlelit hovels and mist-shrouded battlefields. As the title character and his scheming wife, Michael

Stinking Heaven The latest feelstrange indie from Nathan Silver (Uncertain Terms) is the visual and emotional equivalent of curdled milk: yellow-tinted, clumpy, and queasy. Though advertised as a black comedy, this Betacam-fuzzy and largely improvised ensemble piece is more unpleasant than amusing, despite the bitter laughs promised by the setting—a crumbling sober-living commune in Passaic, New Jersey, circa 1990. The house

Theeb Described as the first Bedouin western, this affecting coming-of-age drama (2014) follows a man and his ten-year-old brother, Theeb, as they guide an Englishman through the desert, where the boy remains for more adventures. The story, set in 1916 and told largely from Theeb’s perspective, is replete with threats, the environment both fantastical and forbidding. First-time director Naji Abu Nowar rehearsed his largely nonprofessional cast for almost a year before shooting began, and as the title character, Jacir Eid beautifully conveys a mix of emotions, from wonder to fear to determination. Surround sound adds menacing echoes amid the rocks; especially effective is Nowar’s cutting between close-ups of the characters and long shots of them dwarfed by desert landscapes as they struggle to survive. In Arabic with subtitles. —FRED CAMPER 95 min. Music Box Youth With The Great R Beauty (2013), Italian director Paolo Sorrentino gloried in the

elegant decay of present-day Rome; this layered and commanding philosophical drama, his second film in English, considers the personal decay of aging and, to a lesser extent, the power of art to defy mortality. The story takes place at a posh resort hotel in the Swiss Alps, where a retired conductor and composer (Michael Caine) is courted by an emissary of Queen Elizabeth to perform again and his lifelong pal (Harvey Keitel), a lionized film director, brainstorms with his crew of young screenwriters to finish the script for his self-described “testament.” Sorrentino and cinematographer Luca Bigazzi revel in the hotel’s vast spaces and orderly lines, the action occasionally opening out into verdant fields that become settings for the old men’s reveries. But the scenic beauty is counterbalanced by smart, searching dialogue and vivid performances, from not only Caine and Keitel but also Rachel Weisz (as the conductor’s daughter), Paul Dano (as a creatively confused movie star), and Jane Fonda (as a fearsome Hollywood legend). —J.R. JONES R, 118 min. Century 12 and CineArts 6, Landmark’s Century Centre v

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DECEMBER 10, 2015 - CHICAGO READER 7

PEOPLE ISSUE 2015

ANNA JONES THE HUNGER STRIKER

Interview by ANNE FORD Photo by LUCY HEWETT Jones, 36, joined 11 other activists in a 34-day hunger strike that began in August to protest the closing of Dyett High School, the last open-enrollment public high school in Bronzeville. On day 18 of the strike, CPS announced that Dyett would reopen, but with a focus on the arts rather than green technology as the hunger strikers demanded.

W

hen Rahm Emanuel closed schools in black and brown neighborhoods, it affected thousands of people, and I’m one of those people. I have an eighth-grader, a fourth-grader, a second-grader, and a kindergartener. Due to the closings and mergings, my children went to three different schools in less than a year.

My kindergartener was with 33 other students in one classroom. My second-grader could be on the third- or fourth-grade level, but she’s on a pre-K level. My eighth-grader had a reading teacher who quit in the middle of the year. The school was sending, like, security guards in the room to babysit them. She was texting me every day about it: “Mama, I can’t take this anymore. I’m just sitting here. It’s a waste of time.” And this is in eighth grade, the time they look at test scores and determine if you’re qualified for selective enrollment. I finally had to take my children out of school and homeschool them because I didn’t want them to continue to be sabotaged.

That’s why I pushed for Dyett, because my kids have lost so much. I was hoping all my children could attend Dyett. I am one of the parents with the Coalition to Revitalize Dyett High School. We tried to sit down with our mayor, our administrator, the chief of the school district. We sat down with aldermen, we did sit-ins, we wrote letters, we asked, we pleaded, we begged. Some of us have been arrested. And when I saw how the mayor and aldermen and political people disrespected us as community members and taxpayers, J

8 CHICAGO READER - DECEMBER 10, 2015

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please recycle this paper DECEMBER 10, 2015 - CHICAGO READER 9

PEOPLE ISSUE 2015

ROGER BAIRD THE GROUNDSKEEPER

Interview by TAL ROSENBERG Photo by JEFFREY MARINI As Wrigley Field’s groundskeeper (“assistant director of facilities,” officially) for the last 20 years, Baird, 55, has been responsible for the health of the Friendly Confines’ infield and outfield bluegrass—and yes, the iconic ivy too.

I

was born and raised in Chicago—Jefferson Park. I think I was born a Cubs fan due to my mom and dad.

I remember going to the park, my father taking me. I think I was around five years old.

Somehow I always missed school on Opening Day. I played baseball throughout my [life]. I pitched. I played high school and I played one year of college ball, and then I played a little bit of semipro until my shoulder didn’t last as long as I wanted it to. I had some surgery done—a rotator cuff—but it’s all fine now.

I got lucky with a lot of the culture that I had.

The parks that we played in when I was a kid, a lot of our responsibility would be when we were done playing, doing the upkeep of the field. We would all stay there a lot of times for 20 minutes, half an hour after the game doing some work. And my dad grew up on a farm.

Going out in the field, I learned quite a bit from my father.

Somebody in our neighborhood here worked at Wrigley Field back in ’79. They asked me if I was looking for some work, and they said, “Would you like to come down and work part-time?” And I said, “Absolutely.”

And I went down there, and as I was stepping

10 CHICAGO READER - DECEMBER 10, 2015

PEOPLE ISSUE 2015

“ Yo u h ave to b e a n a r t i st , m o re o r l es s , to b e a g ro u n d s kee p e r.”

on the field—love at first sight.

I was an everyday groundskeeper on the field in 1979. Roger O’Connor, that was the head groundskeeper before me. He was one of my mentors. When I started I was a young kid. He took me under his wing, and he taught me a tremendous amount. I kept my eyes open and my ears open. He said, “You need to work the field every day. You don’t just look at it from a distance and stand over in one corner all the time. You walk the whole field looking for any little possible problems. You catch them before it turns into a problem.”

I became the head groundskeeper in 1995 and, unfortunately, it was not the way I would ever want to become a head groundskeeper. Roger got sick and he passed away during the season, and the Cubs asked me to fill in as the head groundskeeper for the remaining part of 1995, and I did but, obviously, with a sad heart.

I had some really good teachers throughout my career, and I’ve gone to a lot of seminars and have done schooling and gotten to know all the other groundskeepers throughout the major leagues. You got to go to turf school. The best thing they have out there right now is called the Sports Turf Managers Association. I emphasize, anybody who wants to get into the industry, that’s definitely a good direction to go.

It’s an art. You have to be an artist, more or less, to be a groundskeeper now with all the new techniques that are out and mow-

ing patterns and all the different types of clays and fertilization. It’s a big team effort.

Times have changed. When I was there in ’95, we had a native field, basically soil.

And in 2007 we put a brand-new field in. We went to a sand-based field, underground drainage, new sprinkler system—a state-ofthe-art field.

Everybody asks, “Do you cover your whole field when wintertime comes?” Actually, just the reverse. We’re lucky enough that the field becomes pretty much off-limits come wintertime, and we try not to get anybody to walk on the field. Snow cover is actually a very, very good thing for grass.

You’d be surprised with snow cover how much greener your grass gets in the spring than when we just have a cold winter with no snow cover—your grass will brown out a lot more.

Everybody wants to know about the ivy.

I love the ivy. I just think when it comes in bloom, there’s nothing like it. The ivy is actually maintained on a constant basis. I probably have two guys that are spending anywhere from maybe about 20 hours a week trimming ivy. I’ll get that nice straight edge at the top. Whatever time it takes to keep the ivy as beautiful as we can, we make sure we do that.

Pretty much what happens is come late February me and the fellow groundskeepers we’re going and going and going. My guys, they work a lot of times seven days a week. Even if I should take a day off, I don’t live very far from the park. I need to go see the grass and I need to see the field. It just makes me feel better. My eating habits don’t get so good. I drop easily 15 to 20 pounds during the course of the season.

2003 was an extremely special year. That was probably one of my most favorite times.

2007 I think we had a great team. I say, “You love the Cubs, you love the team every year.”

You got to take the good with the bad. Knock on wood, we’re having some good ones now.

The good ones are going to come here for a while, I think.

We look for some groundskeepers for specific jobs, somebody maybe who has worked in the midwest that deals with similar weather conditions. That’s a big key because weather, obviously, here in Chicago is a big factor. Three years ago I brought in an assistant groundskeeper. His name is Justin Spillman, and he’s a really, really good guy. This year, I’m actually pushing back a little bit and I’m really trying to let him take charge.

But I hope to hang around for a while.

They might have to throw me out. v

Jones continued from 8 it showed me we were in bigger trouble than I thought.

We strategized different tactics, and we collectively decided to do a hunger strike. I was afraid of it in the beginning, afraid of what it would do to me healthwise—and then I decided I had no other choice. Seeing my children starved of education was killing me more than not eating would.

During the strike, starting up in the morning was hard for me. Sometimes I had to get up a little slower because my head was kind of woozy. I would take slower steps because if I picked up the pace, it felt like I would pass out. It was also hard interacting with my children, because I was physically weak. I have a five-year-old who didn’t really understand me not being able to push him in the swing at the park. He sat down on the bench beside me and cried, and I cried because I couldn’t explain to him why I wasn’t able to do mommy things.

So that was hard, putting him through such a thing. But we made it.

If it had not been for the support system that we had, I don’t think that I could have survived the hunger strike. We had nurses who would check us after they left work and make sure we had counseling. I did go to the hospital once for an emotional crisis, just being so upset. I had heart palpitations, and obviously I lost weight.

I lost about 22 pounds, but I’m here.

I hated to end the strike because I didn’t want the mayor or the aldermen to feel like we were giving up. But we had to end it because we knew that the mayor would leave us out there to die. Even during the hunger strike, he was cutting ribbons on Lincoln Park schools while our kids don’t have books or papers.

Now we’re not competing with those schools up north. We are happy for those children, but we want the same thing for our children.

Our fight is not over until we get our vision inside Dyett, until what we put our blood and sweat and tears into has been acknowledged.

Why would you offer an arts plan when green technology is the fastest-growing industry in the world? We need scientists and civic leaders, we need lawyers, we need doctors. Arts and entertainment, that’s important, but a strong academic structure is most important.

I’m still trying to pick back up that habit of eating. I started with a light broth. I tried to eat half a turkey sandwich, and it made me sick. I’ve started to eat only once a day, with plenty of liquids. I eat that one meal, but I eat it around the kids—I have to show them that I’m eating so they don’t worry.

Something had to be done. And I’d do it again. Education is a basic human right, and our rights are being violated. v

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PEOPLE ISSUE 2015

CA R LO S R A M I R E Z- R O S A THE ALDERMAN

Interview by ROBIN AMER | Photos by JEFFREY MARINI Ramirez-Rosa was just 26 when he crushed incumbent Rey Colon last February to become 35th Ward alderman, besting the veteran politician with 67 percent of the vote. The win made Ramirez-Rosa Chicago’s first openly gay Latino alderman in a ward that includes parts of gentrifying Logan Square, heavily Latino Hermosa, and diverse Albany Park. He’s spent the past year proving his political bona fides by joining the City Council’s Progressive Caucus and initiating a community zoning process meant to manage change in one of Chicago’s hottest real estate markets.

12 CHICAGO READER - DECEMBER 10, 2015

M

y mom is from Mexico, my dad is from Puerto Rico. Whenever I tell my story I feel like I have to tell their story.

At the dinner table, the conversation was geared towards politics. My family was always trying to answer: How do we reform the city?

How do we root out the machine? They advocated for the midwest’s first dual-language immersion school. They worked to elect Harold Washington, and Dick Simpson, a reform alderman. I was the kid who was at the meeting with their parents, coloring, listening.

I realized there was a lot at stake in politics.

One of the most visceral reactions I’ve had to public policy was HR 4437, the 2005 anti-immigrant Sensenbrenner bill. It sailed through the House and looked as if it were going to pass in the Senate. It would have made it a crime to be in the United States without documentation—you could actually be convicted and serve time.

That bill scared me. My family isn’t undocumented, but a lot of the reasoning behind that bill was anti-Latino, anti-immigrant.

I asked my high school counselor: at the next assembly, can I make an announcement? ’Cause there’s going to be this big rally. It turned out that some of my classmates felt very strongly that the bill was the right thing to do—that people should serve prison time for being in the U.S. without papers. But enough of us felt that it was wrong that 500 of my classmates marched in the rally. That was a watershed moment for me—the moment when I said politics is my passion.

Then I decided to run for junior class president.

I knew I was gay from a very young age. But I also noticed the kid who was openly gay was also the subject of bullying. I didn’t want to be that kid. I remember being paranoid: Do I have a swish in my walk? Am I putting my

PEOPLE ISSUE 2015

“ I t h i n k I h ave a m a n d ate t h at Lo g a n S q u a re re m a i n s d i ve rs e.”

wrists down? In junior high I stopped talking for a couple years because I didn’t want to say something and have someone say, “You’re a faggot because of the way you talk.” I became very withdrawn.

So I went to my older sister Jackie—who’s the coolest person I know—and told her that I wanted to run for class president. And she was like, “We need to buy you a whole new outfit. You need to talk more. And we have to think of a witty slogan.”

The slogan became “Lindsay Lohan loves Latin men—vote Carlos Rosa.” We put up posters of Lindsay Lohan with Herbie the Love Bug everywhere. And we went to American Eagle Outfitters and bought me all new clothes.

I won the election. Then my close friend and I realized we wanted to be more than just friends. We started dating secretly. We were 16 and holding hands underneath the table at McDonald’s.

People started talking—“Carlos is openly gay.” And I was like, Clearly I’ve been outed.

So I started telling people and eventually I was just out. But I couldn’t bring myself to tell my parents. They’re politically progressive, but we were also Catholic. And I remember my father, may he rest in peace, saying a lot of homophobic stuff when we were little.

So the rest of my family didn’t find out until I was going to run [for alderman].

I knew my alderman had become a loyalist—one of those people who perpetuates the status quo. And I was like, “Who’s going to run against Rey Colon?”

We heard that state senator William Delgado was going to do it. So I met with Delgado, and he was like, “I’m not going to run. But you should think about running.” And I was like, “Oh, crap—a state senator is telling me I should consider running?”

So I called my family and they were like, “You’re nuts. You’re going to run against the Chicago machine? You’re 25 years old! Who are you? Go to law school. Maybe 20 years down the line you can run for office.”

I thought they were probably right. I should focus on my work, the deportation defense I was doing. Then my job sent me to an organizing training. And a lot of the focus of the training was if you want to be an effective organizer, you need to focus on the power you have as an individual. You can’t say it’s going to be [another] person who’s going to create change, somebody smarter or better.

I decided I was going to lay out this plan, tell [my family] how much money I needed to raise, and ask them to support me. And my family was like, “Wow, he’s serious about this. OK, we’re going to support you.”

But my sister Jackie said, “Um, you’re going to run for office? You’re a gay man, you have a partner. Everyone knows you’re gay except the family. You have to tell the family.”

Now even my grandma knows. She met my partner—she loves him. Actually, she likes him more than some of the guys my sister has brought home!

A lot of people did not believe [I would win]. Two or three days before election day people were like, “Oh, that’s nice that you ran, better luck next time.” And I was like, “No, guys, everything says we’re going to win! I’ve knocked on doors, and 60 percent of the people I’ve talked to tell me they’re going to vote for me. The data the volunteers are bringing back show we’re on a path to victory.”

What really amazed me was whether it was up in Albany Park or right around the Blue Line, people consistently told me, “I love my neighborhood the way it is.” People want to see a community that is affordable for working people, that is diverse, that draws from cultures across the globe. So I think I have a mandate that Logan Square remains diverse.

Sometimes I think about it through [the lens of] Keep Austin Weird: Keep Logan Square weird, keep Logan Square unique.

The same way I empowered people as a community organizer, I now work as an alderman to create those spaces through which people can create the change they want to see. If I’m doing my job right, we’re going to be using the tools at my disposal to create change in a way that’s authentic to what the community wants. v

DECEMBER 10, 2015 - CHICAGO READER 13

PEOPLE ISSUE 2015

T E ’A I R A M A LO N EZUCCARO TH E TR AU M A THERAPIST

Interview by STEVE BOGIRA Photo by JEFFREY MARINI Malone-Zuccaro grew up in West Pullman and now supervises clinical programs for Metropolitan Family Services in Roseland, a low-income, predominantly African-American neighborhood on the south side. The agency provides families with counseling and other support. The 32-year-old works as a family therapist as well as a supervisor. Many of her clients have witnessed or directly experienced violence, in the neighborhood and in their homes.

M

ost of the kids we see have been exposed to chronic, complex trauma.

It’s not just one thing. Sexual abuse, physical abuse, domestic violence, neglect, violence in the neighborhood—it’s an array of things that make them feel unsafe.

Many of them have been removed from their parents, which is traumatic in itself. They’re put into the home of someone they don’t know.

There often are other kids in that home, so they have to adjust to that as well, and to a new school. All these things can retraumatize the kid. And some of the foster parents have their own history of trauma.

The kids often regress developmentally where they’re showing infantile behavior— bed-wetting, thumb-sucking. They become hypervigilant. Some kids clam up, isolate themselves. They blame themselves for what they’ve been exposed to—“Maybe I shouldn’t have told on mommy or daddy, because then I would still be with my family”—even though one of the parents hurt the child. Some of our kids are just numb. They check out, disassociate. They become very reactive—they explode at every little thing.

We work with the child, but we also work

14 CHICAGO READER - DECEMBER 10, 2015

PEOPLE ISSUE 2015 with the adult in their life—their mom, grandma, uncle, auntie, foster parents, whoever.

We’re teaching them skills they don’t usually learn in this neighborhood. What they learn in this neighborhood are survival skills—that they should do something to someone before the other person does something to them. We have kids killing kids because they don’t know better. They’ve seen their cousins and their parents reacting violently. They don’t understand that there are alternatives.

Sometimes we use puppets or dolls, and the trauma comes out in the play. Dad is yelling at the child, and the child is hitting the mommy.

We talk about what the child and the mommy are feeling. I’ll ask the kid, “If somebody hits us, what are some of the things we can do besides hit them back?” If I’m playing the part of the mom, I’ll say, “I don’t like it that you hit me.” The kid learns from it. We’re giving them the tools to function in school and at home so that the distressing events they’ve experienced don’t become their story.

I’m working with a mother and her child— she was three when we started and is four and a half now. They were referred to us after there was a big episode of domestic violence where the mom got hurt and needed medical attention and the police came. The child was having trouble sleeping, and was bed-wetting, and she was always angry, getting in fights in school. Mostly she was angry with her mom.

She had this hero complex of her dad—she felt he was this awesome guy in her world, even though he was the perpetrator. She felt it wasn’t his fault, it was mommy’s, and she was angry at mom because now she couldn’t see her dad as much as she wanted to. Sometimes kids mimic the perpetrator, verbally and even physically. They’ll hit, and they’ll say things to mom that they’ve heard the abuser say to her.

Of course for the mom, those are reminders of the trauma, and so now the mom isn’t seeing her three-year-old, she’s seeing the abuse they’re getting from the child, and she’s going to react out of proportion to how she should.

It’s been a lot of work, because mom had her own trauma history as a child, so she was always very reactive. Mom was always fussing, and the little one would have temper tantrums in the lobby. We’d have conflicts in our therapy sessions where mom would get mad at me and walk out. But I’ve been able to help the mom realize what her triggers are—what are the things her kid does that really irk her. She says, “Oooh, the way she looks at me.” I’ll say, “All right, what’s going on in your body when that happens—are you tensing up? How does your gut feel?” And then help her to be able to calm herself down, maybe with deep breathing, or just walking away for a bit. You help

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them understand the child’s perspective, and you also help the child understand how mom felt. Even when the child is three or four, they can get it. But if you don’t talk about things, they’re never addressed.

Now the mom can express how she feels, and we have great sessions. When the child does something that irks her, she will talk to her in a calm tone. She’s firm and yet loving. You think, “That’s how it’s supposed to be.” Their bond has really tightened. They’re happy and holding hands as they leave. It lights up my heart when I see that.

At the beginning, it can be overwhelming.

You’re like, “What can I do with all these problems?” When you see success, it encourages you to keep at it.

We’re not sure what the outcome of the state budget crisis will be, but until they tell us otherwise, we’re going to see clients as usual.

It’s stressful for staff, not knowing how long they’re going to be able to work with clients they feel a responsibility for.

If a kid doesn’t form a healthy connection with at least one person, he’s going to have a hard life as he gets older. When I hear about crimes on the news, I wonder about the perpetrator: What was his childhood like? What were the events that shaped him? I always think of him as a little one.

I don’t know why we as a society don’t talk more about early-childhood relationships.

We’re always focused on outcomes rather than on how problems got started. We just see now.

But if you think about the beginnings, it helps you understand, and to think, “What are the programs we can put in place so we can prevent this from happening?” v

S P I C E H E I S T. CO M

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At that point, she had never sewn anything and was terrified of flying.

Fast forward 15 years, almost everything in Rebecca’s life has changed, especially her sewing and truck driving skills. She has been a flight attendant for almost 12 years and opened North & Hudson in 2010.

This year, North & Hudson opened Chicago’s first Mobile Boutique, a clothing store in a step van truck that can be found on the streets of Chicago or at its festivals.

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Sunday · December 20, 2015 · 11am-5pm Chicago Plumbers Hall · 1340 W Washington For more information, visit ChicagoReader.com/MadeInChicago DECEMBER 10, 2015 - CHICAGO READER 15

PEOPLE ISSUE 2015

TYRA RICHARDSON THE PRODIGY

Interview by JAKE MALOOLEY Photo by JEFFREY MARINI XS Tennis Village, the $12 million, 12-court facility in Bronzeville that had its groundbreaking in June on the site of the former Robert Taylor Homes, is a beacon of progress when it comes to giving underserved south-side youth more opportunity to pick up a racket and get involved in a game still perceived as the province of privileged whites. National participation stats back up the stereotype: only 11 percent of tennis players in the U.S. are black, according to a Tennis Industry Association report released this year. In this milieu, Hyde Park tween Richardson could become the poster child for the diversification of the game at the local level. The United States Tennis Association ranks the 12-year-old number one in her age group in Illinois and the midwest; nationally, she’s 11th.

M

y earliest tennis memory is of my dad bringing me to a court not far from our house in Hyde Park. I was maybe three. He had already introduced my older brother, Hugh, to the game. Mom and dad don’t play, but they were inspired by the success story of Venus and Serena Williams, and their father, who showed them the game when they were really young.

When I was six, I was at Midtown Athletic Club in Lincoln Park for a tournament. It’s the first time I remember watching Serena on TV, and I thought, Wow, I want to be just like her. It wasn’t like, Oh, it’s easier to relate to her because she’s black or something. I just thought she was good.

16 CHICAGO READER - DECEMBER 10, 2015

at s o m e of t h es e te n n i s c l u bs . I n ot ice, b u t I t r y n ot to fo cu s o n it .”

I want to be better than [the Williams sisters], actually. I want to go professional, and my biggest goal is to be number one in the world.

Being a junior tennis player in Illinois, most of the tournaments happen in the suburbs, the North Shore and beyond. Some of my friends from the neighborhood probably don’t know where places like Hinsdale or Winnetka are. I’m often the only African-American at some of these tennis clubs.

I notice, but I try not to focus on it. It could become a distraction, so I just play my matches. I haven’t been discriminated against—at least nothing that I can point to. But the more kids on the south side who get to play tennis at places like XS, we will see tournaments start to diversify.

I’ve gotten to meet Donald Young, who grew up playing tennis in Hyde Park before turning pro. It’s good to talk to him because he came from the same place as me, he knows the struggles and what it takes to break through. He told me, “Just keep playing.”

If tennis doesn’t work out, I want to be a chemist. Or some kind of scientist. Science is my favorite subject. I want to wear a white lab coat and work with test tubes. That could be fun. Probably less competition than tennis.

Tennis is important, clearly. I’m putting a lot of myself into it. But my education is more important. I go to Saint Thomas the Apostle School in Hyde Park. I make straight As, and that’s thanks to some of the things I learn on the tennis court that apply off of it. When I’m nervous, I have to remember to play my game;

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if a shot isn’t working, go to another. It’s similar if I’m taking a math test: if I’m nervous, I do what I know instead of feeling defeated by what I don’t.

When I was down in Florida for an American Tennis Association camp for the topranked black junior players, I got this bracelet that says mental toughness. A good reminder.

Tennis is a very emotional sport, and you learn to deal with your emotions. I definitely do less crying than I used to. During a tough match, I don’t throw my racket or anything.

I’ve heard girls who are my age scream the F-word. You get penalized for stuff like that.

I get pretty fiery too, but I’ll just pump my fist and yell “Come on!” Sometimes I’ll take it out on my coach: “You’re sitting there on the sideline like nothing’s happening?!” Or usually I’ll just say it in my head. It’s that competitive spirit, that desire coming out. It’s fire.

Every great tennis player has a rival, and mine is Sydni Ratliff, who is from Ohio. Those matches are . . . intense. Even the refs will say, “That was good tennis.” But off the court, we’re best friends. We have a shared Instagram account, which is mostly just pictures of us we’ve taken.

In June, I was in a final against Sydni. I had, like, eight match points and just couldn’t close it out. After a loss like that, food is my comfort. First we went to Dunkin’ Donuts for a strawberry frosted doughnut and a strawberry Coolatta. And then we went to Red Robin, and I got a cheeseburger. It helps.

When I hang out with the girls who I play against, we don’t talk about going pro or anything. Off the court, it’s kid stuff. Because we’re on the road a lot, girls have birthday parties at, like, a fast-food restaurant or the hotel swimming pool or the town’s only bowling alley.

Sometimes trips to tournaments double as family vacations, especially if I’m playing in Florida or California. When I’m not playing, we’ll go to the beach or out to dinner or hang out in the hotel. When we all went to Austin for a tournament, we ended up watching the bats fly out from underneath the Congress Avenue Bridge. It’s easier to throw myself into tennis if the whole family is on board.

We have a family trophy ceremony whenever I win. My mom pretends to be the announcer: “And now, here’s Tyra Richardson!” I come down the hall and my dad and brother cheer like wild fans. My mom asks, like, “Tyra, how did you manage to win?” Then I pick a spot in the trophy case. Every once in awhile I’ll go back for a peek. It’s a reminder during a hard day what I’ve managed to accomplish already and that I can keep going. v

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DECEMBER 10, 2015 - CHICAGO READER 17

PEOPLE ISSUE 2015

GEORGE BLAKEMORE THE CONCERNED CITIZEN

Interview by DEANNA ISAACS Photo by JEFFREY MARINI If you’ve ever attended a meeting of a Chicago or Cook County governing body, there’s a good chance you’ve witnessed the inspired oratory of George Blakemore, the city’s most diligent gadfly. A Texas native who came to Chicago in the 1970s, a onetime teacher and former Maxwell Street vendor, he’s spent the last 25 or so of his 73 years monitoring government proceedings, stepping up with a reliably contrarian point of view whenever there’s an opportunity for public comment. And sometimes he gets tangible results: for example, thanks in large part to Blakemore’s advocacy, Harold Washington’s name now appears on the sign for the CTA’s Library-State/Van Buren stop.

T

his is about me being able to represent my community, specifically black people, and the greater community—all the citizens of our great city.

I’m motivated to attend these meetings, knowing that if I don’t come it’s a possibility that no one would be there to represent the public. I’m not speaking about elected officials or staff. I’m speaking about people with no economic interest, motivated by civic responsibility and wanting to make sure government works in the interest of the general public.

When I attend these meetings, I’m not welcome. The public officials resent public participation. They do not realize that it’s one of their job’s responsibilities, to educate and inform their constituents about the policies that are being made. Some of them do not send

18 CHICAGO READER - DECEMBER 10, 2015

PEOPLE ISSUE 2015

“Ad vo c at i n g o n b e h a l f of my co m m u n it y ta kes a psyc h o l o g ic a l a n d p hys ic a l to l l .”

out e-mails, do not have community meetings.

They make their decisions without the input of their constituents, and they make them in the interests of the politicians. It’s about who’s going to control the money, the goods, the services, the contracts.

Here in our great global city we have a one-party system, which is the Democratic machine. They control all the elected officials, from the assessor to the clerk to the recorder of deeds to water reclamation to CTA. The machine slates all of these people to run for office, and in return the machine is able to give guaranteed jobs to its followers. It’s the same at the city, the county, and the state.

I was told that the state fiscal climate is the worst of all 50 states. And the city, which is supposed to be a world-class city, is an economic disaster today because of this one-party machine. They’re passing the buck: one says the state is doing it; one says the city is doing it. The leadership in Springfield—Madigan, Cullerton, senators, and representatives from Chicago—is keeping that machine going. And the machine is not working in the interest of citizens. They have not been prudent stewards of the citizens’ money.

The schools are not teaching civics. It used to be mandatory that you have so many courses specifically about the responsibility of citizenship. It’s not only to go and vote, but you must make your elected officials accountable. And the reason people do not come down is because the politicians don’t want them to get involved. When I come, I’m like a little

Lone Ranger, without Tonto. The politicians are very arrogant and abusive. And they come late, some of them don’t come at all, but they have a set of rules for the citizens: when it comes to speaking—three minutes.

So the government is out of control. But the people are part of the problem too—not only the elected officials, but the average citizens.

What mother or what father—I’m using an example—would send their children to school without going to PTA meetings? Without checking to make sure that the schools are doing justice? The citizens have a responsibility and the elected officials have a responsibility. All of the above have dropped the baton.

That’s why the politicians feel they do not have to be transparent. What fascinates me when I go down, they have a premeeting prior to the meeting. And that’s against the Open Meetings Act. Why do I suspect this? Because of the rubber stamp. When they introduce anything in the committee, it’s aye, aye, aye, aye. No dissent. It’s like a one-party government. And that’s not healthy.

I spoke about ten times today, in the various committee meetings. And one of the commissioners said, “Are you going to speak again, George?” I was appalled that he would even talk to me in this manner. I have a right to speak. I do not have a PhD in public policy; I have a BA in history and government. But one thing is in the books, another thing is in practice. Going to these meetings, I can get the agenda, look at it two or three minutes, and know the game. ’Cause it’s the same game being played for Water Reclamation, the Cook County Board, the CHA, the CTA, the RTA, the same game—with the money, the jobs, the goods and services that they deliver. It’s just another name, another vendor, and they’re all politically connected.

As you get older you might get wiser, but you don’t have the energy you had when you were young. So it’s quite a challenge for me to come out and advocate on behalf of my community and the greater community. It takes a psychological and physical toll. Sometimes when I get to speaking, my heart gets to beating, because I get so passionate. And when I’ve come to those meetings, they do things to aggravate me, say certain things to trigger me.

And I have to remember that as a public servant I must conduct myself like a gentleman, and I must not let these elected bullies distract me from my mission.

This morning I didn’t want to come down to this meeting. Sometimes I get tired of showing up. But I say, “George, you say you are a concerned citizen. And you’ve received so much from your ancestors. They made sacrifices. Go and get on the bus and go on down there.” v

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DECEMBER 10, 2015 - CHICAGO READER 19

PEOPLE ISSUE 2015

I R A DA KU N DA JEANNE THE REFUGEE

Interview by BRIANNA WELLEN Photo by LUCY HEWETT A senior at the Chicago Math and Science Academy, Jeanne was born in Tanzania. Her family left the east-African country when she was nine years old as part of a resettlement of Burundian refugees fleeing ethnic violence. She’s been adapting to life in the U.S. with the help of GirlForward, a nonprofit connecting refugee girls with mentors, education opportunities, and adolescents with similar histories.

I

hear people say that we came here because there was a war, but I don’t recall that. I was young. My parents said, “We’re going to the U.S.” They’re parents— you do what they say.

I remember when we arrived in Chicago it was nighttime and I just saw lights, all different colors. It was so beautiful. I was amazed by the city.

My dad works at the Blackstone Hotel. He’s been working there since we got here. My mom serves lunch at a school. I have a younger brother who is 14 and another, seven, who was born in the United States.

Every summer I look for something productive to do. I was on Facebook and I saw GirlForward and I saw different pictures of girls from all over Africa. I’ve been here for eight years, but I had not seen many people who are from where I am from. I wanted J

20 CHICAGO READER - DECEMBER 10, 2015

PEOPLE ISSUE 2015

J UA N SA LGA D O T H E E D U C AT O R

Interview by JULIA THIEL | Photo by ANDREA BAUER Salgado is president and CEO of the Instituto del Progreso Latino, an organization that works to provide education, training, and employment opportunities for Latinos in Chicago. The 46-year-old has received numerous awards for his work, including, most recently, the MacArthur Foundation “genius” grant.

I

grew up as John, not as Juan. All the Latino kids were registered with English names in school—it was what the school recommended. So my cousin Jorge is George, my friend Enrique is Henry. My brothers and sisters called me John or Johnny, my parents and grandparents called me Juan.

I grew up in Calumet Park, at 125th and Ashland Avenue. It was actually a white community that is now a black community, and that transition happened when I was growing up. I remember statements by the white kids about leaving because blacks were coming in.

Kids are honest.

It was a very small Latino community, mostly white and African-American. There were Latinos that had been there since 1918, when my grandfather got there, along with the new immigrants. My mother would do

classes in Spanish after school. I was one of six kids, and I was the one who totally didn’t want to do Spanish classes.

Moraine Valley Community College offered a free ride for students who scored high, and I qualified for that. Community college was the right option for me. Nobody ever talked to me about college. Isn’t that something? I didn’t apply to a single college. I think there were a lot of missed opportunities.

I was a two-plus-two-plus-two person.

I did two years of community college, two years at Illinois Wesleyan University, and two years at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where I studied urban planning. I was really interested, and still am today, in economic opportunity for people in lower-income communities, largely Latino and African-American communities.

J

DECEMBER 10, 2015 - CHICAGO READER 21

PEOPLE ISSUE 2015

Jeanne continued from 20

Salgado continued from 21

to get to know them and meet new people.

When we go on field trips, we don’t take school buses like camps do. We use public transportation and we learn how to get from one place to another by ourselves. I really like that. I can relate to girls who just came to the United States, and I do my best to help them out because I was there once.

When I first started school here I felt lonely. I didn’t speak the language, I didn’t know anybody, I didn’t know how to say hi. I just felt alone. I always sat at the back of the class because I was so nervous. Nobody spoke the same language as me, nobody understood what I was going through.

At my old school, they put me in ESL classes. The teacher was not understanding that different people learn differently. He taught everyone the same way, and I wasn’t getting anything out of it. I was just there to be there. I wasn’t really knowing what he was saying. When we came to the U.S. we had people working with us to get us social security, and they noticed that I wasn’t learning.

One of them found out about Chicago Math and Science Academy and we went there.

I started actually learning something. I would stay after school, and the teacher knew it took different ways to teach different people.

At CMSA, I felt like I finally belonged somewhere. I was that shy kid. I didn’t want to say anything. I felt like I would be judged. Even now I feel like I will be judged with the accent I have and certain words, I can’t put them right. At home I mix [languages], go in and out. I forgot a lot. When we first got here my parents wanted us to speak English at home so that me and my brother would learn the language.

My family’s kind of weird. The American family, they sit around and chitchat at holidays. My family is totally the opposite.

We are family but have a different way of showing we are a family. Like Christmas, the American family will have a dinner. We don’t do that. We just look at it like another day.

We don’t celebrate birthdays, we don’t even sing “Happy Birthday.” My parents want to adapt to the American way the more they see it—now they’ll buy cake for birthdays.

I want to study sociology and women and gender studies. I want to be a social worker.

The people who helped me influenced me to help people from different places. When you come here, you don’t have a lot of support.

You feel alone, you feel hopeless. I want people to feel like they’re not alone, like there’s a person here to help them with their needs. v

When I was in urban planning school, I had a chance to work with some churches in East Saint Louis, an African-American community, and was really inspired by the people pushing to make the community better, the tremendous amount of hope that people had for turning around a situation that was very, very difficult. I got a chance to be part of the planning department for the community development group that was forming.

When I came back, I was unfamiliar with Chicago, pretty much unfamiliar with Latino communities. I didn’t really grow up in one. My Spanish wasn’t very good. But I really cared about community development. I did community organizing for the Resurrection Project, a faith-based organization in Pilsen. You run into people who have significant challenges and pain in their lives: women who’ve lost children to violence, pastors who want to help the kid in front of them, and you’re trying to do community organizing on policy changes, things that are maybe not so immediate. It’s hard to not be able to respond with something tangible. Community organizing got very frustrating.

I spent about five years at Resurrection, then I was hired as executive director here at Instituto del Progreso Latino. I was 31. I was scared to death because you have this thing that’s entrusted to you and you’re charged to lead it and make something that honors the vision of the people who founded it. But I really welcomed the opportunity to be at a place where I could construct things that immediately respond to people’s needs.

Communities like ours are only as strong as the human capital they can retain and attract. If people here can get access to better economic opportunities, if they can increase their earnings while staying in their communities, then we have healthy and livable communities. We have places where families can raise their kids.

We’ve been laser focused on figuring out: where are the job opportunities in our overall economy? They’re not all in our neighborhood. We export talent, and that talent brings income back into the community. We’ve been doing what some people call developmental education, or remedial education, or adult education. Taking that person with a desire to get a better opportunity and putting them in a position to do so. Working with the employer community in manufacturing and in health care—those are the two primary sectors that we focus on—and making those folks more attractive for the employers at the entry level.

22 CHICAGO READER - DECEMBER 10, 2015

“ C o m m u n it ie s l i ke o u rs a re o n l y a s st ro n g as the human c a p it a l t h ey c a n ret a i n a n d att ra c t .”

—Juan Salgado

We said, “Why is it that 25 percent of the population in this city is Latino, and only 1 percent of the nurses are Latina?” Every time we talk to the hospitals, they’re dying for bilingual folks. The system wasn’t producing them. We discovered that there were a bunch of barriers and created programs to eliminate every one of those barriers.

That was about eight years ago. Today, you’ve got 500 people out there making 24 bucks an hour or more. Some have gone on to be RNs and bachelor’s degree nurses— people who wouldn’t have been making that otherwise and who mostly continue to live in the neighborhood. What manufacturing and health care have in common is that if you gain the employer’s trust and respect, they’ll pay for your further education. So all you have to do is get into that first one, and you can keep going up.

We run two charter schools, one focused on health care [the Health Sciences Career Academy]. Hospitals in the area said, “You’re doing a good job with nurses; we need doctors and surgeons.” They’re having to bring in talent from all over the world in order to meet their needs. Why can’t our kids achieve that?

A big part of the reason is they have to start thinking about it from seventh and eighth grade. Their parents are like mine—

they’re factory workers, restaurant workers. They have to have course work that gets them ahead, because they’re going to have to compete for spots in nursing school or med school. So we created a school focused on incorporating a bunch of health-care courses, so that the kids that graduate really understand the human body.

We run another school focused on kids who have dropped out—our Justice and Leadership Academy. We take an approach that speaks to every one of those kids as being college material, career material. A lot of those kinds of schools are focused on, let’s just get the kid the diploma and get them out. That’s really terrible. Because these kids didn’t have a great experience in their first high school, and if you don’t take the opportunity to really build skills, you’ve just graduated a kid—to what? To a menial job? That makes no sense. Why not try to build the competencies while you can?

It’s tough work because the kid wants to graduate. They don’t want to be here.

You’ve got the pull of the system, which is oriented towards “get ’em out,” and you’ve gotta make the case that they’re better off in a competency-based system. That’s what we are. It’s not just about the numbers, it’s about your engagement in your community.

That’s what makes us different.

Everything is done in the context of our community. Nothing’s in isolation. We do an annual student-led symposium around community projects that they’ve come up with. We’re members of [the Latino advocacy organization] the National Council of La Raza, we take a delegation of 20 students every year to the National Council Conference. We’re part of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers. There’s this connectedness to the world outside that’s pretty phenomenal. Kids intern at Rush, Lurie, Baxter International—anything we’re connected to, our students are connected to.

We were founded in Pilsen, Little Village, Back of the Yards, Brighton Park, where all these communities come together. But if you want to get into a health-care program that has a 90 percent rate of success—that’s our record—you’re going to come here. We’re getting kids from all over the city, but concentrated on the southwest side.

In our schools, they’ve gotta apply to five colleges and universities in order to graduate. Nobody’s going to get missed. The work we’re doing, the people we have—there’s no limit to their dream. There’s no “You should take this path because it’s the easiest path, or the most economical path.” Anything’s available to anybody. v

PEOPLE ISSUE 2015

FA B I A N E L L I O T T THE TECHIE

Interview by TATIANA WALK-MORRIS | PHOTO BY JEFFREY MARINI Elliott, 25, is an advertising technology consultant for Google and the founder of Black Tech Mecca, an organization aiming to turn Chicago into a hub for technology professionals of color.

I

grew up in a rural part of Fayetteville, North Carolina. To paint the picture: my road didn’t get paved until I was 16.

From an enterprising standpoint, I’ve had some interesting exploits as I was coming up.

I didn’t realize that Fayetteville was a small city in the bigger picture until I went to the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. As I got to travel more, things came into even more perspective.

I came in my freshman year of school, and I thought I did everything right. I got involved on campus. I got great grades. I even got a 4.0 my freshman year. When I went back home that summer I applied for a job at Toys “R” Us and didn’t get a call back. That freshman summer, I had a lot of time to think doing janitorial work. Afterward I thought, “Man, I

don’t want this to happen to anyone else. How can I prevent it?”

Last August was when I was appointed as our global cochair of the Black Googler Network, a worldwide group that works to attract top black talent to Google. I was just two years out of school, and it was a bit daunting, to say the least. We launched chapters in Brazil, Dublin, London. I actually went to Brazil to help them with their black history month that they have in November.

After I was doing all this work on a global level in the black tech space with Google, I started to think, What am I doing in my own backyard here in Chicago? I had started to notice trends across different communities I was visiting internationally and in the U.S. in the black tech community—there were J

DECEMBER 10, 2015 - CHICAGO READER 23

PEOPLE ISSUE 2015 R AY D A N I E L S THE BEER EXPERT

Interview by PHILIP MONTORO Photos by LUCY HEWETT Daniels is founder and director of Cicerone Certification Program, which works to raise standards in beer service so that it will do justice to the best work of craft brewers. He’s run beer festivals, he’s worked for the Brewers Association, and for more than 20 years he’s served as a beer judge. The 57-year-old is also a faculty member at the Siebel Institute of Technology, and he’s written several books, most famously 1996’s Designing Great Beers.

F

or people outside the industry, I always say, “You now what a sommelier is for wine? OK, we do that for beer.” I’ve certainly seen and had a lot of bad beer—beer that was not bad because the brewer did something wrong but because the wholesaler or retailer did something wrong. The biggest one is infected draft lines or dirty draft lines.

There’s old beer, oxidized beer. There’s skunky beer. And then there’s dirty glassware.

There was a particular incident at a bar in western Colorado—the beer was bad, and the people serving it had no idea that it was bad.

In fact, they had no idea that beer could be bad. Brewers are busting their asses to make great beer, and these bars just think it’s like a can of Campbell’s soup.

Cicerone Certification Program launched in January 2008. Cicerone has four levels now.

The first level is Certified Beer Server, and it’s for bartenders and waitstaff. That’s the online test. We try to give them a vocabulary and a basic understanding of key flavors in beer, so that they can have an intelligent conversation with a consumer and not just say, “It’s really good, you’ll like it!”

The second level is Certified Cicerone, the third level is Advanced Cicerone, and the fourth level is Master Cicerone. There are ten masters in the whole world—three of them are non-American. We have more than 60,000 at Certified Beer Server and about 2,000 Certified Cicerones.

The Master Cicerone has a particular focus on connecting the brewing process and ingre-

24 CHICAGO READER - DECEMBER 10, 2015

PEOPLE ISSUE 2015 dients to the flavor of the finished beer. The things that distinguish a master are amazing tasting ability and encyclopedic style and brand knowledge. They have to be extremely adept at beer and food pairing—they basically sit down with a professional chef, and the chef says, “Here’s a food item and there’s five beers.” You’re on the spot. There are now 12 ten-minute oral exams in the master.

We have a standard. We have a title. If you’re a Certified Cicerone, people expect you to have this knowledge. This is all manufactured out of thin air. It was taking an idea and turning it into something that people believed in. You want them to fear the test—Certified Cicerone, the pass rate is like 40 percent.

I majored in biochemistry in college but got a job on the student newspaper. I worked as a communications person for a couple years between college and graduate school—I worked for a little oil company. Then I went to Saudi Arabia and wrote and produced video training programs for Aramco for about a year, and came back to Chicago as a product manager for Abbott Laboratories. They brought me in as a product manager for the first HIV test when it launched in the mid-80s.

I started home brewing in 1989. Goose Island had just opened, just the pub. Sieben’s brewpub, which is now Reza’s on Ontario— they used to have the brewing equipment still installed there. When I was trying to start a brewery in the 90s, I did look at that space.

Quenchers on Fullerton was open—that was the specialty beer bar.

I’ve been self-employed essentially since 1990. I had my own public relations firm for a while. Ninety-six was the year that my motto was “All beer, all the time.” I shut down my PR firm, I was trying to start a brewery, I started a beer festival, and I was writing Designing Great Beers. The first time I met Mitch Steele, the head brewer at Stone, he was still working for Anheuser-Busch, and I was on my way to an Anheuser-Busch boondoggle, changing planes in Salt Lake City. I’m standing there waiting for my plane, and there’s some guy walking around the departure lounge with a copy of my book under his arm. I’m like, “Well, I gotta talk to this guy.”

I took the [Beer Judge Certification Program] exam in ’91 for the first time, and quickly started judging home-brew competitions here in the midwest. Humans are not hard-wired to vocalize their perceptions of flavor. We really have to train ourselves. “Refreshing” is not a flavor word. Even “hoppy” has gotten to be so generic—tell me more. Are you talking about bitterness? Are you talking about hop flavor and aroma?

I have a history as a beer entrepreneur that’s

littered with great ideas that were well before their time—that were loved by beer nerds but not successful enough to employ me. The Real Ale Festival was one of those. At its height, it was the largest cask-ale festival anywhere outside the UK. We had 250 casks in 2003. We had people from 35 different states order tickets, and five different countries. It never made money. The period I was doing that was the worst period for craft beer in the last 30 years.

From late 2003 till late 2007, I was working for the Brewers Association as director of craft-beer marketing. [CCP] started in 2008, and I was still with the Brewers Association part-time, doing the book-publishing operation. By January 2010, I’d hired a part-time employee. By the middle of 2010, she was a full-time employee, and I’d rented office space.

We did staff photos today, and there were eight people there—those were the full-time folks. We have some part-time people. And we have a vast cadre of contract people who do grading or proctor exams for us in different parts of the world.

We promote and advertise the program to certain consumer groups—we want them to know about Cicerone, so that when they have a bad beer experience, they will say to the bar, “Hey, have you ever heard of the Cicerone Certification Program?” That’s so much more powerful as a marketing tool than us calling the bar. We’ve never done that.

Yesterday Chicago, today America, tomorrow the world—that’s not a Cicerone hyperbole, it is what’s happening in craft beer.

For years we’ve gotten inquiries from other countries—somebody from Spain will send us an e-mail and say, “Oh, craft beer is really going in Spain, we need a Cicerone program.”

Then we get one from Japan, one from India.

We had BrewDog from the UK call us up and say, “We want you to come over—we have 20 people who are going to take your exam.” They probably have 65 Certified Cicerones now, which is a huge number. And they have two masters—they’re the only organization in the world with two. I’ve got a request to go give an exam in Berlin, and I may do that in February or March.

We’re in the process of drafting an agent agreement for an organization to represent us in Australia. By this time next year we should have fully functional Spanish and French websites. And God only knows—I literally had a guy from South Korea come to the office to sit down and talk to us two or three weeks ago about representing us in South Korea.

My personal motto is “Sooner or later, every good idea turns into work.” We have lots of good ideas, and unfortunately for my staff, I decide that we should do a lot of them. v

“ Th e tec h d i ve rs it y i s s u e i s h ot , b u t it ’s re a l l y j u st a m ic ro cos m of ra ci a l d y n a m ic s we fa ce i n eve r y i n d u st r y a n d i n ot h e r a s p ec t s of l ife.”

—Fabian Elliot

Elliott continued from 23 a lot of transferable challenges and issues that people were facing. The biggest thing that alarmed me was there wasn’t a lot of connectivity. Everyone was in their own communities, fighting their own battles.

I started to ask myself, “How can we make Chicago a beacon in the tech community, in the black community, and in the world in general? Why don’t you just combine everything and make Chicago the global black tech mecca? Do we even have the raw materials to make this happen?”

I spent about six months having different conversations with black leaders and tech leaders in the city, not telling them what I was thinking of doing but gauging what they thought about the city’s black tech community.

We had our very first meeting April 20 of this year, and it was only about five or six of us. Our game plan was that we were going to have our launch event in June during Chicago Tech Week. We launched and have never looked back.

What we’re looking to do is tackle two problems. We’re introducing ways to strengthen connections and quantify collective impact within the black tech community. We’re actually taking a technology-first approach to doing that through our ecosystem network platform. On the front

end, it’s a “directory on steroids” where members of the tech community can join, discover others, and connect with them. On the back end, we’ll get data and metrics to allow us to have a pulse on the health of the black tech community.

One of the main drivers for me for Black Tech Mecca is if we don’t figure out how we can come together and build a community among ourselves, then the pipeline of youth we’re sending into tech will be going into the wilderness. We have to furnish an environment where people in our community can come in and thrive.

The tech diversity issue is hot, but in my mind it’s really just a microcosm of different racial dynamics that we face in every industry and in other aspects of life.

One thing that I talk about that I felt—and you can still feel it now—is there is an inferiority complex. Sometimes you get into a meeting and you’ll hear people who talk a certain way as if they know everything or use a certain jargon that you may not be familiar with. You can feel like someone’s smarter than you or you’re not as smart as everybody else. You’ve got to realize that they went through the same interview process. They’re no smarter, no better than you are. They may have unique strengths, you have your own unique strengths. You have weaknesses, they have weaknesses. That was one of the biggest struggles that I had to overcome.

The inferiority complex was one struggle, and then the tech fluency too. I got frustrated with people talking about stuff I had no idea what they were talking about. I don’t aspire to be a developer by any means, but being in the environment it feels like you’re missing out. That was one of the reasons why I started taking online classes. I don’t desire to be a software engineer and spend all my days coding, but it’s good to at least have basic principles.

Not many people are giving us flak for Black Tech Mecca, because almost a third of the city is black. If Chicago has a vision to be fueled by technology, you need to have as many Chicagoans plugging into this technology as possible.

You can make Chicago the place for blacks in tech. What about everyone else?

What about Detroit? What about these cities all over the world? Our big bet is that once we’re able to refine this process and get it down, we would produce some type of blueprint for other cities to either increase or grow their black tech ecosystems. That’s long-term. But we have to get it right here first. v

DECEMBER 10, 2015 - CHICAGO READER 25

PEOPLE ISSUE 2015

D I A N A D ÁV I L A THE CHEF

Interview by MIKE SULA | Photo by ANDREA BAUER Dávila grew up working in her parent’s taqueria minichain, and at the age of 20 became executive chef of their upscale Mexican restaurant, Hacienda Jalapeños, in Oak Forest. The 33-year-old has traveled all over Mexico, and cooked in some of the best restaurants in Chicago and Washington, D.C. In September, she opened Andersonville’s Cantina 1910, where she pushes “midwest Mexican” in new directions.

26 CHICAGO READER - DECEMBER 10, 2015

I

always thought that cooks were the coolest fucking people in the world. I just always looked up to them. I remember how they would do tacos and how they would organize themselves and the kind of talks they would have. It was just interesting conversation to me. I always wanted to help. I’d always be pestering, “I want to do it! I want to do it!” Instead of doing my homework, I’d start filling the little side cups for salsas.

Washing dishes. I’d be helping them cut onions. I’d be on milk crates and they’d show me how to take orders. I just always loved it.

At 17, I decided I wanted to be a chef. It was a magical moment. On Saturdays I’d always wake up super early with my dad. We would drive down to the city and go to Fulton Market to pick up produce and meat and everything the restaurants needed for the week. We would get up at four o’clock in the morning,

and I would work all day Saturday. And it ended up being a custom that whenever I would get to the place that I was working, I would always make breakfast for the line cooks from my grab bag of stuff. They would all be hungover.

This was a time when it wasn’t popular to be a chef. Nobody was fucking doing that. This was my junior year and everybody was asking, “What are you gonna do?” And I sucked at school because I was just impatient. It just didn’t work well for me. I had no idea what I was gonna do. But it just all came together that morning. Everything was silent and I could hear the fucking sauce and I could see everything. It was tunnel vision. It was just, “I want to be a chef.” I could smell. I could see.

I could hear. Everything was just there and I was like, “That’s what I want to be.” The feeling overcomes you. From there I didn’t want

PEOPLE ISSUE to tell my parents. I thought they were gonna be, “No. That’s loca. You’re just saying that because you’re always at the restaurant.” I didn’t tell them for I don’t know how long. I thought it was something bad. Nobody was doing it. I didn’t know how to go about it. There were only a couple of schools. When I finally did tell them, they were like, “That’s perfect. Why didn’t we think of that?”

When they opened Hacienda Jalapeños, our executive chef lasted maybe two months.

I’d be lying if I didn’t have a little bit to do with why he didn’t want to work there anymore. I was like, “No, we’re not doing this right. This needs to be like this.” I’m like, “Your menu looks exactly like Frontera Grill.”

There were a million restaurants in Chicago at that time and they all had the same fucking menu. Another one with garlicky shrimp with white rice and some, you know, pretty vegetables. Everybody does that. Everybody was doing the same thing. It was boring. And I didn’t want that.

At the same time, too, I had Grant Achatz’s food. I went to Trio, and it was, “Oh my God.” I had another epiphany about food. It was the first time I could see how food could be interactive and almost cartoonish to a point. One thing is plating something pretty, another thing is having food presented to you as an art form that makes you think. From my experience in Oaxaca I played with things foundations-wise. I remember doing a blackberry pasilla mole. Blood orange guajillo sauce with loup de mer.

I feel like Mexican chefs are at this place of revolution where they’re embracing the possibilities of what they have within their realm. They have a great foundation of history and a foundation of techniques that are not used anywhere else. They have every ingredient possible because they have every growing region that you could possibly have.

The sky is the limit of what Mexican food could be. I want to do the same thing but do it here. That’s what I mean when I say “midwest Mexican.” Every pueblito does things differently. That’s why they do enchiladas different in Tijuana than they do in Zaragoza.

It’s exactly who I am—I’m a midwest Mexican. I feel like this was the food I was meant to cook. I feel like I just scratched the surface.

Now I know the chef I want to be. I’ve got so many ideas it’s ridiculous. I feel like it’s fucking pouring out of me. Now that I know the chef I want to be and I have a good foundation, there’s so much more I want to learn and keep doing. And there are some things I want to write. Two of them are children’s books and one of them is kind of a memoir.

The other is a chef slasher movie. v

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DECEMBER 10, 2015 - CHICAGO READER 27

PEOPLE ISSUE 2015

LU FT WERK THE PUBLIC ARTISTS

Interview by RYAN SMITH Photo by JEFFREY MARINI Petra Bachmaier and Sean Gallero, 41 and 42 respectively, are the duo behind Luftwerk, the Humboldt Park-based art studio that specializes in temporary public art and sculpture.

Their calling card has been light- and projection-based installations around notable sites such as Millennium Park’s Cloud Gate, Mies van der Rohe’s Farnsworth House, and Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater in Pennsylvania.

The artists’ most ambitious project yet, “Solarise,” a series of sculptures at the Garfield Park Conservatory, is on display through September 2016.

Bachmaier: I’m from Germany, outside of Munich. I came to the U.S. in the late 90s to go to the School at the Art Institute of Chicago because of their performance art program.

My approach has always been interdisciplinary—using media arts and fine arts to create something experiential.

Gallero: I grew up in the Bronx. I was also in the same SAIC performance art program, but by the time Petra was there, I’d ditched school. We met through a German acquaintance of ours. I had a roommate in one of her classes.

Bachmaier: We soon became partners in art and in life. I went back to Germany in 2000 and Sean went with me. We lived there for six

28 CHICAGO READER - DECEMBER 10, 2015

PEOPLE ISSUE 2015 months—basically so I could finish my thesis.

I really wanted to live in a place that was connected to both of us.

Gallero: We returned to Chicago because it was the place where we met, a place where we developed work from the very beginning, and it felt very comfortable. We knew the lay of the land and the city and the intricacies.

It felt like a place to settle, to start our life together.

In the beginning, our art started with slide projections, video projections, and things that involved ephemeral surfaces. We created very experimental, temporary artwork. We’d manipulate or transform a space or material for a very short period of time. Our first piece, for example, was a video projection on ice.

Over the course of the event, the ice would melt and you were just left with water.

Bachmaier: Eventually we got more serious and started our studio in 2007. Luft is German for “air,” and Werk is “facility” or “work.” “Luft” reflected the ephemeral quality of the projects we were doing. The overarching narrative of our work is a response or a dialogue with architecture. We’ve become interested in searching for sites that actually have a relationship with urban architectural development connected with natural space.

We’ve worked hard to get where we’re at and made good connections. We had a really successful project in 2012 at Millennium Park with Luminous Field. We did not anticipate that it would become a big public success and were overwhelmed with the response we received. One of the responses was from the director of the Garfield Park Conservatory, who asked us if we were interested in doing something for the grand reopening of the conservatory after all the hail damage. They have a history of showing artwork there. It was very exciting that they asked a local artist team to make a big proposal for them.

We got a tour of the conservatory and came up with some ideas. We were told about the urban legend of the fern room and the waterfall and stonework around it—that Jens Jensen created it so that it would sound like music. We liked that story, so the waterfall became a historical element we wanted to highlight. We wanted to frame it with our Portal piece. The shape of Portal is actually a shape we’ve been working with in our projection art for quite a long time. So we put two and two together. Also we discovered in our research that Jens Jensen liked framing nature, so then we decided to literally frame the waterfall.

Gallero: The whole project took three years.

There are a lot of moving parts. When we begin a project, we have these big overreaching ideas and then bring it to a more realistic vision and viewpoint. You’re limited by budget, logistics, and what is both possible and feasible. We have ideas and we concept it and make small-scale models and we have friends who are architects and engineers and fabricators who try to realize it. We do the models, experimentation, and when it’s finalized, they have the realization techniques to make it happen. There’s a lot of trial and error involved.

Bachmaier: We would like people to know the thought that went into our art. With [a work in “Solarise” called] Florescence we created a canopy using light from the color spectrum that plants need to grow and blossom. So someone might walk in and just think it’s a pretty-looking canopy, but someone who reads about it might get more out of it because they’re like, Oh yeah—that’s what flowers need. We want to educate and inform why we do things the way we do, but at the same time if a child has a lot of fun with the colors and the shadows on the floor, we are completely content.

Gallero: We’re creating artwork that is interpreted by many. Everyone brings their own narrative. Everyone brings their own vision, their own viewpoint. It’s always interesting to see how people react to our public art; how viewers create their own artwork from it. It always takes us by surprise. It influences us a bit. We ask, “How can we develop, design, and create a piece of work that’s viewed, interacted with, and immersed in the public?” A lot of our work is really activated by a viewer and how they interact with the piece and bring their own experience to it. We can peek over.

Sit on a bench. No one knows who we are.

We can see people do things. It’s infinitely entertaining. We love it. At the end of the day that’s the most satisfying part of the installation. From that point on, they own it.

Bachmaier: Light art is underappreciated because people tend of think of art that is two-dimensional, like on a wall somewhere.

That kind of art has a tradition. Light has a far shorter tradition in the arts.

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Gallero: Light travels in space, but you don’t see it until it hits something, or you experience it. Light has gotten more famous recently because they were just able to capture it as a particle, as a wave. It’s so interesting. It’s literally in the spotlight right now. v

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333-8530

PEOPLE ISSUE 2015

W STEPHANIE DÍAZ THE PUPPETEER

Interview by TONY ADLER | Photo by ANDREA BAUER Díaz, 41, is an actor and writer who’s currently working on a series of interrelated stories based on her Guatemala-born mother’s experiences, ranging from a stint in the marines to the time she did electrolysis on Eva Gabor’s mustache. Lately, though, Díaz has become known for her surreal “puppet triptych” Mariposa Nocturna, and for creating the expressively used puppets in Strawdog Theatre’s The Long Christmas Ride Home.

hen you tell people that you’re a puppeteer—which I generally don’t do—it’s always the same conversation: they assume that you do marionettes, which I admire but don’t have a personal interest in doing. Or not only do they assume that you do the hand-and-mouth-and-rod style of the Hensons, they assume you aspire and want to do that. Sort of in the same way that when you’re an actor people assume that if you’re not in New York or LA you are on your way there.

People always say one of two things. They tell it to you like it’s a secret, like you’ve never heard it before: “I think puppets are creepy.” Like it’s a confession. And we puppeteers are like, “Duh. You and everyone else. Nuns and clowns too?”

Or they say, “I love puppets!” But even the people who think they’re creepy, sometimes they only think they think they’re creepy. We just don’t get enough exposure to puppetry.

I’m most excited by how puppets move.

For me the design of a puppet, how it looks,

is inextricable from how it moves or how I’ve designed it to move or want it to move or imagine it moving or how the objects from which it’s assembled naturally work to move. An example is the solteronas—the two bird-headed ladies—in Mariposa Nocturna. When people see them in a picture or static or hanging in my studio, they’ll say, “What are they supposed to be?” And then I try not to be irritated, but my answer is, “They are what they are. They are what you see.” But in performance nobody ever asks what they’re supposed to be. And so in Christmas Ride I wanted to see how much of the storytelling could be done entirely through the movement and not so much the appearance of the puppets.

I was very adamant with the actors in Christmas Ride: “No dead puppets on the stage! Don’t you dare let me see a dead puppet on that stage! That puppet better be looking at something!” It can be holding still, but it better be a specific holding still. You wouldn’t believe J

DECEMBER 10, 2015 - CHICAGO READER 31

PEOPLE ISSUE

PRESENTS

Díaz continued from 31

Jonathon Nieves As Romeo In Q Brothers "balcony Scene" . Photo by Joel Maisonet

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

December 19 & 20 at 3:00PM Cindy Pritzker Auditorium, Chicago Public Library Harold Washington Library Center, 400 S. State St. Sung in English with Orchestra, featuring dancers from Ensemble Español Spanish Dance Theater & a Children’s Chorus.

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

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the difference when the puppeteer becomes distracted and is just holding the puppet still— you can tell, you can see puppet and puppeteer divorce. You can see it. Whereas if the puppet is holding still deliberately, for a reason—because they’re thinking or they don’t want to move or they’re bored—that’s clear.

When you have a puppet on a stage and you have people on a stage, the eye goes directly to the puppet for the most part. And therefore the puppet doesn’t need to do so much so big. If you were to observe the movement of the puppets in Christmas Ride, you’d see the movements they’re making are very small and very precise and very specific. That kind of specificity elicits a reaction of recognition from the audience. Of joy. Because they see themselves in that puppet. You have to be selective about when the bigness happens.

One of the actors was being at first very big, and I said, “No no no no no.” And they said, “Well, what about when Kermit the Frog goes, ‘Yaaaah!’” It’s a famous Kermit thing. And I’m like, “Yeah, but Kermit only does that for that occasion of wild abandon. The rest of the time Kermit’s not doing great big gestures. He’s doing what he needs to do to get by, which is really what we do in life.” Really, really, really: less is more, and it’s hard as a performer to trust that you’re doing enough.

My writing style is a lot more florid. I’m wordy and florid and I try to be funny. I like things that are profane to be treated as funny even if they’re horrible. I think that’s very Guatemalan. In my novel, all of the stories are infused with these unexplained happenings.

Are they real? They’re just treated as matterof-fact because that’s how my family treats them: of course you stuck your hand out the door and the little cold hand grabbed it and laughed and then you went into hysterics. Of course that happened.

When I created Mariposa and then again a year later, when I was developing Mariposa, I had two miscarriages. My husband and I lost both of our pregnancies at the same time of year at the same place in the pregnancy. You recover in a postpartum way, the way that you would if you’d had the kid, except you don’t have a kid. You don’t have the reward. You just have this void. And both times I’ve been forced to look at the void on the ultrasound. It’s really interesting: Voids are very much a part the work that [fellow 16th Street Theater artistic associate] Jessica Mondres and I are thinking of creating next. It’s called T(w)o Marias, based on the idea that something is there and then it is not there. It’s there, it’s there, it’s there, and it’s alive and it’s vibrant and it’s here, and then it’s gone. Oh, more death? Heh. Yeah. v

PEOPLE ISSUE 2015

JUNIOR STO PK A T H E S TA N D - U P COMIC

Interview by KEVIN WARWICK Photo by JOHN STURDY Stopka, 32, is a homegrown stand-up comedian who has toured extensively with Doug Stanhope and appeared on Comedy Underground With Dave Attell. His comedy ranges from irreverent and silly to demented and diabolical, and for whatever reason he doesn’t currently host a local open mike (club owners, take note).

I

grew up right here in Humboldt Park.

Went to Saint Helen. My father came from Poland, bought a house, and then another in the early 80s, kind of on the border of Humboldt Park and Ukrainian Village. Just blue-collar people. My dad was a mechanic and my mom was a quality-control inspector.

I was a night owl and could stay up on Saturdays. There was a comedy showcase that came on at, like, 3 AM. It was Saturday Night Live, Showtime at the Apollo, and then some comedy special on free TV. We didn’t have cable, so we didn’t see a lot of stand-up other than what was on Letterman. I wasn’t picky. I liked ’em all. Kinison. Gilbert Gottfried—he was real weird, and I like that kind of weirdness. I liked the shitty comics, and I liked the clean comics.

My first open mike was during a music showcase at Phyllis’ Musical Inn. It was all musicians, no comics; they were happy to have me. I can’t even get an open mike going there now. What do I gotta do? I’m on TV and everything. My first was good. That’s how it usually happens—and then you bomb the second time. Sometimes it’s the opposite: you bomb and keep bombing, and then you’re just a shit comic.

Don’t ever ask a comic about his first material. I’d rather show you naked pictures of J

DECEMBER 10, 2015 - CHICAGO READER 33

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34 CHICAGO READER - DECEMBER 10, 2015

PEOPLE ISSUE 2015 Stopka continued from 33 me as a nine-year-old kid than show you my notebook or tell first jokes. When you’re new you think you’ve got 30 minutes, but in reality you have zero. You just try to get a light laugh when you can. I didn’t start doing what I really wanted until maybe a year and a half or two years ago.

I was first on a bill in probably 2007. Some shitty local showcase. But you can actually get a reaction from a crowd because open mikes are full of miserable comics that just want up. When you see a reaction from the crowd, that’s awesome. Your first hit is always the best one, right?

I would say I’m more silly than morose. My initial approach was just to do straight jokes.

Then I was like, “This ain’t me.” And I just started making fun of my own jokes. Just like, “Ahhhh, dating is rough!” And then I’d shit on myself. I never try to appeal to comics. I don’t care what the audience wants. I do what I want to do.

I can’t pack a room, and I’m from here. I refuse to work with comics, but I’m not a loner.

You work with anybody and you start to hate them. You work with the nicest guy but after a while you’ll be like, “Why the fuck is this guy so nice. What is he hiding? Why is he smiling?”

Hate will always find a way. I like the grind. As long as my jokes work I’m happy.

I hooked up with Doug Stanhope at Lakeshore Theater. It’s the Laugh Factory now but it used to be the Lakeshore, and it booked the cream of the crop. Bill Burr, Patrice O’Neal, Eddie Pepitone. They had Reggie Watts there and nobody was in the crowd. He had to go outside and wrangle people. Seeing those shows made me a better comic.

The Stanhope shows were the best I’ve ever done. The crowd liked me, got me. I don’t think he’d take me on the road if we weren’t similar.

I’m similar to him in the way that we can both offend people. They’ll like the joke and then I’ll try to get them to not like me at the end of it.

There are scary venues. One we did in Pensacola looked like a dilapidated meth house, and I thought they were going to kill us. Then it turned out to be one of the best shows.

Florida is so weird. And it’s terrifying there, especially in the Panhandle. Touring is fun if you take a buddy. I did one with Carlos Valencia. He named it “the Fluffer Tour” because we fluffed up the good comics.

It’s better to just make some money and keep driving. I see why people want that nomadic lifestyle. You’re by yourself for so long that you think of really good ideas because you’re always in the dark recesses of your own head. That’s the best comedy.

Abso-fucking-lutely.

“ D o n’t eve r a s k a co m ic a b o u t h i s f i rst m ate r i a l . I ’d rat h e r s h ow yo u n a ked p ic t u res of m e a s a n i n e ye a r- o l d k i d .”

—Junior Stopka

I should record an album, but there are so many. Maybe 50 comics in this city have one.

It’s oversaturated. Obviously I need to hawk shit and make a living. Some T-shirts comics sell are ridiculous. My friend made this joke about how he likes to fuck while he spoons, so he calls it “sporking.” He has a shirt that says, “I spork.”

I tell hecklers to be quiet but if they’re not, I’m like, “OK, you want to be part of the show?

You want to ruin it? Let’s ruin it.” If they’re not liking me, I detour. I go in the crowd, be an asshole: “How you doing? What’s your shitty job? What kind of cat you own?” That’s what gets the YouTube hits. But do you want to see a whole set about hecklers? If I saw Richard Pryor and some dude in the front row kept yelling, I’d say, “Shut the fuck up! I want to hear how he burned himself.”

I like old shtick too. I like the Three Stooges.

Vaudeville-esque. Sometimes I feel like I could sing a song and tell a joke—and then someone throws a tomato at me. My main job is comedy.

That’s how I make my very little money.

If I see the crowd is really tight I’ll push it. I’ll do my old block about just murdering women for no reason. Innocent white ladies who don’t exist. I’ve done that before with Stanhope. We were booked with some lady who was on a sitcom targeted toward teenage girls. The whole crowd was teenage girls. So I was like, “I ain’t gonna do well here.” I did my 20 minutes about murdering and torturing women, and I guess it was just Stanhope in the back laughing. I knew my other jokes weren’t going to work anyway. So let’s start off with the murdering, suicide, and torture. v

PEOPLE ISSUE 2015

MEHRNAZ S A E E D - VA FA THE FILMMAKER

Interview by J.R. JONES Photo by LUCY HEWETT Saeed-Vafa’s 2013 documentary Jerry and Me details her experiences growing up in Iran as a fan of Jerry Lewis and classical Hollywood cinema in general. Frustrated creatively by the Islamic Revolution and the Iran-Iraq War, she followed the rest of her family to the U.S. in 1983 and, having settled in Chicago, helped launch the Gene Siskel Film Center’s Festival of Film From Iran, now in its 25th year. The 65-year-old is a full-time faculty member in the Film and Video Department at Columbia College.

C

inema was a big deal, at least in my generation. I come from a middle-class family, so it was the biggest form of entertainment. My father was a huge fan. As soon as a new movie would come, I would go accompany him. Hollywood dominated the whole country, so there were a lot of American films that I grew up with. There were some Iranian commercial films that were hugely popular, and later on, in my early teens, there were some that coincided with the Iranian new wave. There were European films—a lot of Italian films, some Japanese films, some French films. There were cine-clubs and cinematheques and art houses.

Many American films were pure fantasy to me, like westerns or romantic comedy. There was nothing that I could directly relate to because the society and the values they were portraying were far from where I come from.

But they were already planting in me the idea that the United States is a country full of color, full of adventure. America was a mecca for us, because we wanted to be modern.

My intro to film was a class in the newly founded school of cinema and television. Then I went to London Film School, where I got J

DECEMBER 10, 2015 - CHICAGO READER 35

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36 CHICAGO READER - DECEMBER 10, 2015

my practical and technical training. Going to London was a quite an eye-opener for me, because my classmates were from different parts of the world. But I did not like the weather; it was always raining and cloudy. I come from a hot, sunny environment. The language and people, I missed them so much.

Two years before the revolution I went back to Iran and got a teaching job at the school of cinema and television. Then I saw that things were starting to change. You could see it in 1976, ’77 too, but it culminated in 1978. The clergy regarded Hollywood film as propagating immoral values regarding man-woman relationships. Those who were very strict would not watch television or go to movies. More than a hundred movie theaters were set on fire. Before the revolution, Warner Bros., 20th Century Fox—a lot of those companies had offices in Iran. But many of those prints were destroyed right away. For almost two years, all movie theaters were closed.

I started making a film right after the revolution, in 1979. The story was about a little boy who has to help his father by delivering a message to the other side of Tehran. I wanted to shoot in the streets at night. Suddenly, in the middle of the shoot, the father of the child said, “I’m not going to send my child anymore.

It’s war.” So I stopped. After eight or nine months they asked me to finish it, but the child already had changed, his [baby teeth] had come out. Half of the film could not be used.

Then they started to close down all the schools to get rid of courses that were not up to the values of the revolution. The film school was half open, and we had students who were very religious. I got to know many different types, from very radical to very secular.

Some of my students were politically active; they were arrested and killed. Some of my colleagues were also active; they either went underground or escaped, or they were fired.

Cinema came to a standstill. They talked about how cinema could be used in a different way, more didactic, more educational, spreading revolutionary values. They started talking about “Islamic cinema.” In 1983 they established the Fajr International Film Festival, and they opened the Farabi Cinema Foundation.

Suddenly there was a lot of support from the government, but mainly for films that had revolutionary content. I wasn’t that kind of filmmaker. The stories I wanted to tell were about my childhood and the issues I confronted in Iran during the shah’s time.

They started bombarding Tehran too. That anxiety was a little too much. I didn’t know how long the war would go on. None of my family were in Tehran; I was all by myself. I

“ H o l l y woo d p l a nted i n m e t h e id ea t h at t h e U n ited St ates i s a co u nt r y fu l l of co l o r, fu l l of a d ve nt u re.”

—Mehrnaz Saeed-Vafa

was very depressed. I thought, “I should just go somewhere where I forget about myself.”

My youngest sister was in Chicago, and she encouraged me to come. Rubicon Productions in Evanston were making films for American Playhouse and hired me as an editor.

In 1988 I talked to Barbara Scharres [director of programming at Gene Siskel Film Center] about starting an Iranian series. For the first festival I showed new wave films made before the revolution. I showed The Mongols

by Parviz Kimiavi, and I invited him from Paris. I showed Still Life by Sohrab Shahid-Saless. One of Mohsen Makhmalbaf’s films, The Peddler, was in Toronto, so we invited that film. That was very successful, especially with the directors being there. Those films were not accessible online or anywhere, and Iranians in Chicago wanted to see them. For the non-Iranians, with all the political stuff about the hostages and the revolution, they wanted to see what Iranians looked like.

I learn a lot from my film students about the culture I’m one generation away from. They inspire me, but I also bring them a certain consciousness because of what I have been through. I was in Iran for four years under the war, so when they want to glorify war, I can discuss that. That really has been the most valuable experience of my life here, that whatever I’ve learned in that part of the world I could somehow bring to my students and their projects and their consciousness. v

PEOPLE ISSUE 2015

L AU R A KI PN I S T H E P R O V O C AT E U R

Interview by AIMEE LEVITT Photo by LUCY HEWETT Kipnis, 59, is an essayist and cultural critic who gleefully takes aim at sentimentality and social pieties, particularly those around sexual politics and gender roles. She’s the author of five books, most recently Men: Notes From an Ongoing Investigation, and a professor in the radio/TV/film department at Northwestern. Last winter an article she published in the Chronicle of Higher Education about Northwestern’s new rules prohibiting studentprofessor relationships generated campus protests and a bizarre Title IX investigation, which she described in a follow-up piece.

I

guess I would say I’m a writer/professor or professor/writer. So those are two different enterprises that are sometimes in conflict with one another. Well, I got in a bit of conflict last year over this essay I had written.

I was approaching it as a writer and it was received on campus by students as a professor that had written things that they found I guess in some cases upsetting. So that was an interesting situation where the two roles came into conflict. Because I don’t think that before that I had thought of those roles as such a conflict.

I’m not one of those people who wants to malign students and student activists, because there’s been so much of that. I’m in a lot of ways really sympathetic to a lot of the activism, but this issue about vulnerability and also offense I think has to be thought through a lot more than it is.

There’s a confusion between being offended by something and being endangered by it.

And I think that’s something that has not J

DECEMBER 10, 2015 - CHICAGO READER 37

PEOPLE ISSUE 2015 Kipnis continued from 37

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38 CHICAGO READER - DECEMBER 10, 2015

been discussed or thought through, and you see it emerging now in this discussion about trigger warnings and this concept of trauma that comes up as a sort of basis for that, but I still think these concepts are so mushy. There needs to be a more substantive kind of working through these ideas. I do think that—you can say what the date is, December of 2015—and in the last three months or so it’s just been in the headlines, particularly in the last few weeks, student protests calling for faculty to be fired or to resign their post. And in some cases I think that’s been justified, like with the Missouri president. But I think there’s this precipitousness about shutting down discussion before there’s been discussion.

I hadn’t really thought about academia as my subject. I guess as a writer I’m someone who’s always looked at my immediate surroundings, but I have to say, I thought of myself as a bit of an outsider in academia, so it’s not something I ever thought about writing about as a subject because—yeah, I always thought of myself as having a foot in and a foot out. But now I see, especially at the moment, that it’s a contradiction-laden place and I suppose, as a writer, that’s the thing I veer towards, and the subjects I’ve always written about are the sorts of contradictions that people don’t seem to be talking about that there seem to be things to say about.

There was a lot of bemoaning the quiescence, if that’s the word, of students and I had really, up until recently, thought of the students here as fairly placid. So, you know, don’t complain, I guess. And again, it’s not like I’m not decrying—I’m not a person who wants to say all of this is without merit. I thought the protests at Missouri were incredibly rousing.

I thought that the football team forcing a president who wasn’t doing his job to resign was an incredibly great spectacle, in the good sense. I do think there is room for people like intellectuals, professors, writers to try to be more nuanced about this stuff and not let the campus protesters’ slogans have the last word or set the agenda. You’ve got to look closely at each situation.

I think it’s almost impossible to write at this moment and not use the first person. It’s like the necessary idiom of the moment, it seems to me. The easy answer is the narcissism.

There’s something that almost seems too dry now or too distant about writing without the first person. So it’s something I’ve kind of struggled with, because I always did think of it as sort of selling out to this imperative that I had wanted to resist. But I have definitely moved toward it. What I’ve found is that once you start writing in the first person, it’s im-

possible to stop. You just want to write about yourself more and more.

There’s this problem putting yourself in as a participant, falling into a self-congratulatory mode, and I was a little bit worried about that with the Title IX piece, because I think it’s easy to fall into that mode of—well, in that case, lone warrior for campus justice or whatever. So I guess that’s one of the problems of becoming part of the story. I, for the most part, got a lot of positive feedback, if that’s the right term, for having gone public with the Title IX story because, in fact, to my knowledge, no one else has written about getting brought up on Title IX charges, partly because you’re threatened with all sorts of reprisals if you do. And what’s happened since I wrote that thing is that I’ve gotten this endless amount of e-mails from people all over the country who’ve been brought up on Title IX charges in shocking, shocking ways.

Shocking lack of due process, made up sorts of both accusations and procedures. And it’s scary and disheartening.

Ellen [Willis] is a person, as I’m writing more about this campus stuff, and the different strands of feminism that have taken hold on campus, “injury feminism” or whatever you want to call it—Janet Halley calls it “governance feminism”—Ellen’s version of feminism, the emancipatory version of feminism, is the version that seems to have been underdeveloped, left behind. It’s something I want to go back and read about. There’s a great book by Alice Echols called Daring to Be Bad, which is about the early splits in the feminist movement between the so-called radical feminists who actually became the more conservative feminists, the antiporn wing, Catharine MacKinnon and [Andrea] Dworkin, versus the left-leaning feminists, and Ellen was part of that contingent. That group, the left feminists, are not really represented in the current campus discourse. I came of age at that moment. It is exactly what I want to write about next.

I’ll tell you what I’m working on. It’s a book tentatively titled Higher Ed/Stupid Sex. It’s kind of about the contradictions of campuses at the moment. I have a thing about Ellen Willis’s example. There’s a certain contingent on campus who would call themselves “prosex feminists.” It exists, but it exists in the context of this sense of endangerment as well. It does seem to be all over the place. I think there’s a movement toward asking for more paternalist kinds of protections from the administrators.

And I think that is a kind of contradiction for sure, that asking the administrators to intervene invites a kind of paternalism that feminists of previous generations spent a lot of effort trying to dismantle. v

PEOPLE ISSUE 2015

M A R E A S TA M P E R THE DJ

Interview by LEOR GALIL Photo by BILL WHITMIRE Under the name Black Madonna, Stamper produces and DJs around the world. The 38-year-old also serves as the music director for Smart Bar, and helps oversee the esteemed club’s newly formed dance music label, North Side 82.

M

y dad is a musician, but in general my whole family is obsessive music people. My stepdad is one of the great record collectors of all time, and it’s certainly where I get a lot of my dance-music stuff. I can remember my stepdad making my mom mixtapes when they were dating, which is really sweet. And we still have all of ’em.

DJing was a natural outgrowth of a really early connection that I felt with dance music, even in Kentucky, which is where I’m from. I followed that to Chicago. Slowly worked my way towards Smart Bar, which is where I really, really wanted to work right off the bat, but it took me almost ten years. Eventually started there as the assistant to the buyer, then I became the talent buyer there.

My first rave was in ’92, so I’ve been going to parties for a long time, but I didn’t start DJing till halfway through college. I did a radio show and was futzing around with some records on the air and accidentally mixed two together. My eyes got big. I became so completely obsessed. There was a period where I was playing—during spring break, when the radio station was closed—12 hours a day. I had the keys and I could go in and there was nobody there. I was really a big dancer, and I used to do B-girl stuff when J

DECEMBER 10, 2015 - CHICAGO READER 39

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40 CHICAGO READER - DECEMBER 10, 2015

PEOPLE ISSUE 2015 Stamper continued from 39 I was younger. DJing satisfied a piece of that but was so much deeper.

When touring became something that it was clear was eating my life, I went to Joe [Shanahan, Metro and Smart Bar owner] and said, “I can’t be flying out on Thursday night and coming back on Monday morning for the staff meeting anymore. I’m gonna freak out.” I thought I was gonna have to quit this job that I loved, I was really about to cry, and Joe was a little broken up. Then he got this look on his face. If you know Shanahan—when he realizes something, there’s this kind of, like, Shanahan aha face. He goes, “Wait, we’re not breaking up. . . . We’ll make a new job.” That’s when the music director position was created.

People imagine DJing to be just champagne and high-fives. The truth is that’s about 5 percent of it. The other 95 percent of it is very lonely. A lot of it is things that people hate, like airports. Sometimes you can go three or four days where you only get a couple hours of sleep, especially during festival season. The emotional component of that is very challenging, because I’m married. I have a house and a dog and all that normal stuff—I’m not a party animal. So I feel a lot of separation anxiety.

Obviously I wouldn’t do this if music had not been the driving force in my life since I was a child. But there’s more than that. You are your own business, and that freedom is both delicious and terrifying. I love to travel. Before I got my first European offer I didn’t have a passport, and I had only been out of the country to go to Canada and the Caribbean. Now I’ve been everywhere from Istanbul to Japan, Australia, all over Europe. I really enjoy the education that comes with being a world citizen.

For many women who are just getting their feet wet, some of the things that I stand for and have said have been meaningful. I definitely do feel a certain amount of responsibility, because women are still fighting to get into this industry, and once they get in it they face a whole set of challenges.

There was a thing that I said in an interview, off the cuff—this thing that they call the Black Madonna Manifesto. Just a little piece of an interview that starts off “Dance music needs Riot Grrrls, dance music needs . . . ,” all this list of things. It started getting circulated, and I would see it on Tumblr. I really knew that there was momentum when I saw somebody had handwritten it on a sign that they unfolded at a festival I was playing in the UK. Now there’s a regular conference that takes its name from [the manifesto] called Salt + Sass.

There are printed posters for it in Switzerland.

Someone was needlepointing it.

Girls come in crying in clubs, telling me

their personal stories of what happened to them or had happened to their women peers in the industry. I’ve had big women DJs write me in private saying, “I want to start talking about these things, and I want to talk to you about it first.” These ideas existed way before me, and the people who really fight these fights are women of color and trans people. There’s nothing that I’m talking about that a woman of color who’s a feminist didn’t talk about first 30 years ago. Having said that, there definitely has been momentum around these issues just in the last couple of years. I’m one piece of that puzzle, but I take that piece very seriously.

The main thing is to be a microphone that shouts the name of other women. The most important thing that I can do is use anything good that happens to me to make sure the door widens. Some of that has happened at Smart Bar with the [women-focused] Daphne series, some of it has happened when people ask me “Who should we book next?” I’m starting to get offers to curate in larger venues and events. Do you choose the person that everybody already knows, or do you choose the person that might be overlooked by a genre of music that has recently emphasized primarily rich white men?

I’ve been a DJ for almost 16 years, and I didn’t play my first out-of-country show until two years ago. I went through a period where I never got booked in Chicago, where I would play two or three times a year, and that was real thrilling.

The first things that I made I couldn’t get anybody to listen to. Things sat on my Soundcloud forever. My first few records had like a hundred plays on Soundcloud, 95 of which were probably ’bots, the other five of which were my mom. Producing was the thing that eventually opened the door for me.

From producing I met Steve Mizek, who now runs the North Side 82 label; he also ran the venerable Little White Earbuds blog. My friend Jason Garden, who is now the talent buyer at Smart Bar, insisted that I show the first five or six records that I made to Steve, who had started his first label, and I was so afraid to. I sent them to Steve and he didn’t say anything for a long time. One day he was like, “Hey, I want you to come over to my house,” and I was totally afraid. We listened to everything I had made and decided to put out the two original disco cuts that I had made.

Slowly that first round of tracks got picked up. I did a Little White Earbuds mix, and that changed a lot. When Steve gives you the green light, other people pay attention. It’s how I got my European agent. My first confirmed show in Europe was Panorama Bar, and everything changed. The whole joke about the 20-year overnight sensation—that’s me. v

DECEMBER 10, 2015 - CHICAGO READER 41

PEOPLE ISSUE 2015

JAMAL M OS S T H E E X P E R I M E N TA L COMPOSER

Interview by PETER MARGASAK | Photo by BILL WHITMIRE One of Chicago’s most prolific and inventive electronic musicians, Moss performs under a variety of monikers including Hieroglyphic Being, I.B.M. (Insane Black Man), and the Sun God, among others. Over the last two decades he’s released more than 100 records for his own Mathematics label, and recently he’s started working with some of the most important imprints in the world, including Ninja Tune, Soul Jazz, and Warp. Earlier this year he dropped a dizzying experimental effort called We Are Not the First (RVNG), a collaborative effort featuring Sun Ra saxophonist Marshall Allen, Liturgy drummer Greg Fox, and singer Shelley Hirsch, among others. Although rooted in Chicago house, his expansive work embraces new age, industrial, and other styles.

42 CHICAGO READER - DECEMBER 10, 2015

I

grew up in the far south side of Chicago in the Pullman area, like 115th and King Drive. I was raised by first cousins of my mom. I wasn’t really conscious of the music they listened to. I would hear it around the house but I didn’t know what it was. A lot of jazz classics and blues stuff. They had me on some traditional stuff rather than street culture.

My biological mom came back into my life when I was around 12. I would go and do sleepovers at her place, but I only did that so I could go out and party on the weekend. I would hang out for a bit and then I was like, “I’ll be back by Sunday.” I would just kick it in the streets. Sometimes we’d go to sock hops at Mendel, Kennedy King College, Academy of Our Lady, or Lindblom, or somebody’s basement party, where I would get introduced to a lot of music. Sometimes I’d meet people from downtown or the suburbs, and you’d hang out and ride BMX. I got introduced to Medusas,

Limelight, McGreevey’s, Off the Alley, and regular house parties.

I wanted to be connected to something that I felt had a higher purpose than what I was used to. Even now if I tell people I dabble in the arts the first thing they ask is, “Oh, what, hiphop or reggae?” It’s always that pigeonhole.

I don’t like reggae. I don’t like hip-hop. And when I explain what I do they just look at me like, “You’re strange.” There’s always been that thing hanging over me ever since I was young.

I met people from different backgrounds—I got into Rush and Psychedelic Furs, and I listened to WKKC—they played a lot of eclectic stuff. I would sit back and observe what was stupid and what was life-enhancing, so I went with what was life-enhancing, the stuff that would help me evolve as a human being.

I didn’t start at Northwestern until 1992. I studied cultural anthropology with a minor in ethnographic film studies. I finished in ’96 and started grad school there, an independent

24..4! "4-5()

PEOPLE ISSUE 2015

+0((02 30&1!# .,#*#1(*

scholar program, but I didn’t finish because I was going through some redefining moments and I felt like it wasn’t for me. There were a lot of differences in ideology and there was a certain narrative that was being dictated in academia that wasn’t fair and impartial to all cultures. To me it was foolishness, and I walked away.

In the house music culture scene, I was primarily a dancer. Now everybody is a DJ or a promoter, but there ain’t nobody dancing, which is ass-backwards. If you were a dancer back then, people needed you because you got the party started. Promoters would see me and my friends and we’d get in for free because we’d get everybody else hyped up. It went from there to them paying me to do flyers and to promote stuff, and after a while I decided to do my own stuff and make money throwing parties.

I did stuff at 531 S. Wabash, 2210 S. Michigan, Edge of the Lookingglass, Mars Gallery, 19th and Michigan. It was a mixture of industrial, Italian disco, Euro synth—a mish mosh.

I used to work at Columbia College Dance Center, did promotions for them as well. I got caught up in the performance art thing, so I started getting into Kate Bush, Laurie Anderson, Dead Can Dance, John Cage, Philip Glass.

I started opening up some of those events as a DJ, doing experimental sound structures.

Over time I got mentors, like Adonis and Steve Poindexter. Adonis gave me some equipment to practice my craft. Everybody had DAT machines, and I’m running around recording my stuff on VHS tape. I asked some people for help, and they were like, “Just do it yourself.”

I wondered if that was a dis or the truth, and I decided to go it alone—and that’s when I started my label back in ’96.

I walked away from doing parties around 2000. I did a residency at a bar in Lincoln Park called Bar 3 for about four years. If I could go into Lincoln Park and play good-quality deep house and make them like it, it was kind of like me doing market research. It was my own personal focus group. Around 2006—that’s when more stuff started coming out on my own label. I worked out a deal with Groove Distribution, who’s supported me for almost ten years. There were pockets in Europe and the U.S. where my records sold.

My adoptive parents were into Sun Ra, but I didn’t get into it until I went to university.

Northwestern’s radio station played all kinds of jazz. It made me feel safe and it kept my anxiety down.

I do audio texturizing—playing multiple formats, collages of music; I’ll play some jazz, some industrial, some new age, and some ambient stuff, with a house track or an obscure disco record, with all five playing at once. The

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funny part is that I suck at beat matching with just two records or two CDs, but for some reason I can have five things going at once all cohesively flowing.

That’s what they wanted me to do at intermission [at London’s Barbican during a Sun Ra Arkestra show]. I met the Arkestra and they said, you’re going onstage with us. They made me put on an outfit and read a bunch of Sun Ra poetry and introduce them. That’s where I met Matt Werth of RVNG. He thought it would be interesting for me to do what I do with machines but live with other human beings. I thought it was demented. For a long time I told him no. So I prepped and came in with some concepts and backing tracks. By the first or second day we had, like, 30 tracks.

Now I got a deal with Ninja Tune—that’s coming out next year. They’re more like, “Can you make it shorter?” I’m not knocking it, because I’m learning a different aspect of the craft. They might be critiquing me, but it’s helping me be better.

I’ve done a couple of remixes for Warp, and now I’m working on a project for them for 2017. I’m thinking of doing a project like Ken Nordine’s Word Jazz for them. I really like what Ken Nordine does—this motherfucker is schizophrenic as hell, but he found a way to channel his multiple personalities through his art, and sometimes I feel like that—talking to myself and having a conversation back and forth when I’m doing things. v

A Caroling Party benefiting Chicago Tribune Holiday Giving

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44 CHICAGO READER - DECEMBER 10, 2015

Recommended and notable shows, and critics’ insights for the week of December 10

MUSIC

b ALL AGES F

Vince Staples

PICK OF THE WEEK

! COURTESY PITCHFORK

The new Divers is Joanna Newsom’s most surehanded and impressive accomplishment yet

! ANNABEL MEHRAN

JOANNA NEWSOM, ALELA DIANE & RYAN FRANCESCONI

Wed 12/16, 8 PM, Chicago Theatre, 175 N. State, $29.50-$59.50. b

IN 2010 JOANNA NEWSOM delivered a three-disc breakup album called Have One on Me, a

daunting achievement both in its content and length. The singer has pared things down, at least in terms of duration, on her fantastic new Divers (Drag City), but there’s still nothing especially light or easy about it. After a dozen times through, I’m only now beginning to get a handle on her wildly imaginative, detail-rich, occasionally witty lyrics as well as her swooping, carefully sculpted melodies and gorgeous, multilayered arrangements (contributors include Nico Muhly and Dave Longstreth, a pair of the most audacious minds at work within the decaying boundaries that separate pop and modern classical music). On both Newsom’s last album and to a certain extent its predecessor, Ys, I felt a bit lost amid the ambition of her material; the deluge of ideas is so intense that the exquisite beauty and inventiveness end up suffering. Not so with Divers. Her most sure-handed and impressive accomplishment yet, it balances the fantastic and direct qualities of her words and melodies with a dazzling clarity that’s pulled me in like nothing since her 2004 debut. Her writing combines folk-pop and Baroque flourishes, while her singing blends mannered formalism, loose pop phrasing, and otherworldly warbling—and together they elucidate idea-packed miniatures that move from strength to strength with precision and fluidity.

I’m giddy about discovering the record’s countless secrets and rewards, but I’m also excited about hearing it spill out live. Opening is the duo of Alela Diane and trusted Newsom collaborator Ryan Francesconi. —PETER MARGASAK

THURSDAY10

FRIDAY11

Advance Base Mint Mile and Mike Adams at His Honest Weight open. 9 PM, Hideout, 1354 W. Wabansia, $10.

Geof Bradfield Group See also Saturday.

9 PM, Green Mill, 4802 N. Broadway, $12.

There’s been a recent run of film think pieces trumpeting It Follows, The Babadook, and A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night as a horror renaissance, and I’d be inclined to agree if a few more directors showed the kind of empathy for characters that Advance Base main man Owen Ashworth does on August’s Nephew in the Wild (Orindal). Inspired by frightening flicks, Michigan’s wilderness, and parental fears, Ashworth produces warm, introverted electro-pop tracks that paint vivid, loving portraits of, for example, a burnout who disappears without a good-bye and a screwup who can’t seem to follow the directions of devil-summoning incantations. On “Pamela” Ashworth sings about hapless teenagers rearing an unlucky child whose apocalyptic future will set the world ablaze. The gentle vocals and romantic keys make the song’s revelation that much more unsettling, and his emotional investment in his tragic characters make it even more affecting. Tonight’s show is a record release for Advance Base’s “Pamela” seven-inch, and even though Ashworth can sound like a band entirely on his own, he’s busting out a rare version of group for this performance. Joining Ashworth are two of his original Advance Base collaborators, bassist Nick Ammerman and pianist Edward Crouse, plus drummer Mike Adams (Mike Adams at His Honest Weight, Husband&Wife), guitarist Matt Barnhart (Tre Orsi, Mint Mile), trombonist Nick Broste (Mucca Pazza, ex-Magical Beautiful), lap-steel guitarist Howard Draper (Tre Orsi, Mint Mile, ex-Okkervil River), and percussionist and keyboardist Tyson Torstensen (Night Terror, formerly of Magical Beautiful and Ga’an).

—LEOR GALIL

Reedist Geof Bradfield is a student of jazz history whose big ears and broad knowledge channel his insatiable curiosity. And he’s recently developed a string of creative projects yoked to unobtrusive concepts—he might draw inspiration from regional styles he encountered during his State Department-organized tour of Africa, or his tunes might convey developments over the career of masterful arranger and trombonist Melba Liston. His latest project is an homage to a favorite recording: the 1966 album These Are My Roots: Clifford Jordan Plays Leadbelly. In celebration of the work, Bradfield put together a group in late 2013 to cover the classic in full for the cool Jazz Record Art Collective series at the Fulton Street Collective (2000 W. Fulton). The endeavor was so rewarding it took on a life of its own. Our Roots (Origin) mixes four Leadbelly tunes interpreted by Jordan with a pair of Blind Willie Johnson songs, a couple of spirituals collected in the Georgia Sea Islands, and three originals dedicated to living figures who have influenced him: pianist Randy Weston, Zimbabwean singer Oliver Mtukudzi, and bassist and singer Meshell Ndegeocello. Still, it’s the blues that pulse at the heart of this agile quintet with trumpeter Marquis Hill, bassist Clark Sommers, trombonist Joel Adams, and drummer Dana Hall, who injects serious propulsion. “Meshell” has a slick modern R&B feel, but more often than not the group stays gritty and direct without being reductive. The arrangements for “Before This Time Another Year” and “Dark Was the Night Cold Was the Ground” thoroughly reinvent the pieces and create the impression of timelessness while sounding utterly contemporary—a nutshell encapsulation of Bradfield’s aesthetic.

B —PETER MARGASAK

DECEMBER 10, 2015 - CHICAGO READER 45

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Deerhunter ! COURTESY THE WINDISH AGENCY

continued from 45 Byron Westbrook Daniel Wyche headlines.

8 PM, Experimental Sound Studio, 5925 N. Ravenswood, $10, $8 students and members. b Byron Westbrook doesn’t make a lot of records.

Though the New York-based electronic musician has been performing concerts under either his own name or the alias Corridors since 2006—and has been creating sound installations nearly as long— the just-released Precipice (Root Strata) is only his second album-length release. Recordings have never been able to produce the same effect as his previous Chicago appearances, where to heighten the awareness of space he played processed instrumental sounds through strategically placed loudspeakers while audience members passed around smaller speakersand lights flickered. On Precipice Westbrook gets more direct. He plays its four pieces on a modular synthesizer, and as the music transitions from slowly bending tones to psychedelic whorls to drizzling blips, it feels more active than Corridors’ beautifully decaying timbres. Tonight Westbrook will play pieces from Precipice and newer material. Following his performance, local guitarist Daniel Wyche will lead a quartet that includes guitarist Andrew Clinkman, cellist Lia Kohl, and vibraphonist Ryan Packard in a performance of “The Fire in the Lacquer House,” a surging soundscape by Wyche that Lillerne Tapes reissued earlier this year. —BILL MEYER

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46 CHICAGO READER - DECEMBER 10, 2015

Geof Bradfield Group See Friday. 8 PM, Green Mill, 4802 N. Broadway, $12.

Iris Dement Pieta Brown opens. 8 PM, SPACE, 1245 Chicago, Evanston, sold out. b A few years ago Iris DeMent ended a 16-year drought of original recordings with the release of

Sing the Delta, an album that captures her switch from guitar to piano as well as her continuing embrace of gospel. It’s hard for me to stop hungering for more new material, but I’ll happily settle for the stunning The Trackless Woods (released on the singer’s own Flariella imprint). On it DeMent composes 18 lovely settings for poems by Russian modernist Anna Akhmatova, whose work was largely silenced during the Stalin era. DeMent and her husband, Greg Brown, adopted a Russian infant in 2005, and the album’s liner-note essay explains that the project is an attempt to give the child back some of the heritage she lost by leaving her homeland behind. And DeMent seems like one of few who could situate Akhmatova’s extraordinary writing so gracefully within country and gospel melodies, whether in melancholy full-band readings or stripped-down parlor-room arrangements. “From the Oriental Notebook” expresses a fleeting sense of romantic connection formed while in a foreign land, while “All Is Sold” celebrates enduring beauty, both urban and rustic, in the face of cataclysm.

DeMent’s honeyed warble—a force of rural American beauty—delivers the translations with a blend of sweetness and sorrow, bringing out universal truths undiminished by time or geography. In “From an Airplane” Akhmatov expresses love of country despite her experience of watching war-torn Russia in decay. DeMent sings, “Nothing can divide us,” a sentiment that surely resonates during the ugly discord afflicting the U.S. right now. —PETER MARGASAK

Meat Wave Melkbelly, Sophagus, and Rad Payoff open. 9 PM, Empty Bottle, 1035 N. Western, $10.

When SideOneDummy signed Meat Wave earlier this year it gave me pause. What did a California label best known for harboring some of Warped Tour’s brightest in pop-punk (Gaslight Anthem, anyone?) want with a dark, scuzzy Chicago threepiece that cribbed their name from an Onion headline? The better question might have been, “Who wouldn’t want to ride the Meat Wave wave?”

Where are the rest of the music listings?

Find them at chicagoreader.com/soundboard.

3855 N. LINCOLN

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Though there’s a fine coating of postpunk frost on the group’s second album, September’s Delusion Moon, the band furiously rocket through most of the material before hypothermia sets in. Meat Wave’s brash and vital songwriting comes into focus when front man Chris Sutter dispenses combative cries alongside razor-wire guitar licks—and the hooks begin to shoot out at you from all angles. The rhythm section keeps the group’s motor aggressively humming, summoning magnetic tension on the mutant Krautrock of “Sunlight” and subterranean gloom of “Sham King.” —LEOR GALIL

SUNDAY13 Deerhunter 5:30 and 9 PM, Thalia Hall, 1807 S. Allport, $22-$26, early show is all-ages, late show is 17+, both are sold out.

Bradford Cox delivers what seems like a lot of contradictions on Fading Frontier (4AD), the lovely new album by his long-running band Deerhunter.

The most elegant and melodic music of the group’s career toggles between nihilism and hope, but closer inspection suggests there’s really not much of a dichotomy. On opening track “All the Same” Cox describes a friend of his father’s who had a sex change that altered his life: “No more wife / No more kids,” he sings. But in the final verse there’s a triumphant message about turning handicaps into strengths. In the midst of recording the record Cox was seriously wounded in a car accident, and his convalescence appears to have affected his worldview, especially on “Duplex Planet” (“After the body’s gone / The scent remains”). On the closer, “Carrion,” Cox’s wordplay around the phrase “I still carry on” suggests something very dark and less hopeful. Musically the band sounds warmer, gentler, and more direct, with a strong neo-80s vibe. The hooks and tenderness pull me in, leaving me to confront some difficult ideas and images—but it’s a very effective sort of dislocation. Cox’s side project Atlas Sound opens the late show. —PETER MARGASAK

Los Lobos See also Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Leeroy Stagger opens. 8 PM, City Winery, 1200 W. Randolph, sold out. b It’s mind-boggling that Los Lobos have soldiered on as a band for more than four decades without a personnel change (unless you count the addition of saxophonist Steve Berlin in 1984), and on their latest album, Gates of Gold (429), they again reveal the ability to reenergize themselves. The quintet continue to balance roots rock with the cumbia and ranchera they grew up with in east LA, but keep the mixture fresh with straight-ahead panache and deft experimentation—and where many bands their age coast on a deep catalog, they keep adding new tunes. The album opens with “Made to Break Your Heart,” a midtempo gem distinguished by an extended guitar solo from David Hidalgo that summons the frenzied spirit of Neil Young. Later it shifts gears with “When We Were Free,” a loose, minimal groove developed by Hidalgo and Louie Perez in the lo-fi style of their Latin Playboys project, on which the commanding bass of Conrad Lozano pro-

vides a shifting array of muted, texture-rich instrumental flourishes. As usual, guitarist-vocalist Cesar Rosas steps in with the traditional ingredients, whether shaping the nasty choogle of “Mis-Treater Boogie Blues” or designing the galloping cumbia of “Poquito Para Aqui.” On top of all of this, Los Lobos happen to be one of the greatest live bands in rock history. —PETER MARGASAK

MONDAY14 Los Lobos See Sunday. Leeroy Stagger opens.

8 PM, City Winery, 1200 W. Randolph, sold out. b Girlyboi Gosh Pith and Sylvie Grace open.

7 PM, Schubas, 3159 N. Southport, $14, $12 in advance. b Being young and beautiful and painfully precious is tough for most, but former Chicagoans Carley Russ and Joseph Matick somehow make the best of it as lo-fi ambient pop duo Girlyboi. Now stationed in London, the couple have slowly been teasing their self-released first EP, Actual Woman—due out December 17—with a trio of tracks on their Bandcamp page. The best of the bunch, “Whole,” is carried by the soulful airiness of Russ’s delicate voice— even as Matick’s creaky, swaggering harmonies cut in, her vocals pirouette around solemn strings, ethereal keys, and faint, barely linear acoustic guitar.

This is bedroom pop for a bedroom overlooking the Thames: it’s almost decadent in its scantiness. The recently dropped “Bedside” pairs a rustic rhythm with a cadence from Matick that sounds gloomy and pained even as he belts his voice out into the deeper pockets of the track. There’s a lot of room to move around within Girlyboi’s vulnerable sound, and I imagine Russ and Matick are happy to sprawl out and let their perfect long locks fall where they will. —KEVIN WARWICK

Mama Vamos, Swimsuit Addition, and City Slang open. 9 PM, Empty Bottle, 1035 N. Western. F Local four-piece Mama have been kicking around since 2011, initially busting through with a handful of self-released tapes of over-the-top, shredding cock rock. But during the last couple of years the band have cooled their jets on rock ’n’ roll crammed with guitar solos and developed a brilliant, tough-guy power-pop sound. On March’s Night Shoot double seven-inch and the brandnew Speed Trap EP—which was recorded a year ago but is just now getting proper vinyl treatment

by HoZac—Mama combine skuzzy licks, glitzy guitar melodies, and arena-ready choruses to walk the line between the street-tough glam of the Sweet and the small-town bravado of Cheap Trick.

Together these songs provide a soundtrack for a careless, reckless youth, and go well with leather jackets, hot rods, and quarts of cheap beer— bands in Chicago haven’t captured this type of spirit for years. Onstage Mama loosen up a whole lot as their liquor-fueled guitar onslaught pushes them into louder, meaner Thin Lizzy territory. This show is a release party for Speed Trap.

B —LUCA CIMARUSTI

BEAST WARRIOR, I LOVE RICH, CHRIS SIEBLOLD’S PSYCLES FRI, 12/11

RAZORHOUSE, THE HANDCUFFS, I LOST CONTROL SAT, 12/12 11AM,12:30PM,2:30PM, CHICAGO CHILDREN’S THEATRE PRESENTS…

A SNOWY DAY WITH BEATRIX POTTER & FRIENDS

SAT, 12/12 - 9PM

THE WOLFMANZ BROTHERS, 56 HOPE ROAD, ZOO LIFE, SUGAR FREE ALL-STARS MON, 12/14 - 5PM - NO COVER

LOUDER THAN A MOM’S HOLIDAY MARKET MON, 12/14 - 8PM

LOUDER THAN A MOM TUE, 12/15

SAMBA BAMBA, GERALD DOWD WED, 12/16

ME, YOU, & HER THU, 12/17

THE LOVING HOUR

(FEATURING COREY FRYE FROM MAIN SQUEEZE),

NASTY SNACKS FRI, 12/18

EVERYBODY ALL THE TIME, SUPERBIG, TOY ROBOTS, THE DIRTY BLUE SAT, 12/19

THE CASUAL TIES, CAPTAIN COOPERSMITH, MARMALETTA

Never miss a show again.

EARLY WARNINGS chicagoreader.com/early

DECEMBER 10, 2015 - CHICAGO READER 47

Where are the rest of the music listings?

Find them at chicagoreader.com/soundboard.

MUSIC continued from 47

TUESDAY15

Goatsnake Pelican headline; Goatsnake, Cloakroom, and Canadian Rifle open. 9 PM, Empty Bottle, 1035 N. Western, sold out.

I first heard about Goatsnake as “one of the groups Greg Anderson from Southern Lord played guitar in before Sunn O))),” and in case that’s where you’re still at, let me catch you up.

This groovy, charcoal-dark stoner-doom band, formed in Los Angeles in 1996, originally consisted of Anderson, front man Pete Stahl (who sang in 80s D.C. hardcore band Scream, where a young Dave Grohl played drums), and the rhythm section from the Obsessed—drummer Greg Rogers and bassist Guy Pinhas. (Maybe you’re getting an idea why folks consider Goatsnake a big deal.) They fell silent in the early aughts, after two albums, then re-formed for a Roadburn set in 2010. They hadn’t written any new material together since 1999—they’d started families and other projects— but Anderson, Stahl, and Rogers soon enlisted new bassist Scott Renner for their first full-length in 15 years, this year’s Black Age Blues (Southern Lord). The guitars aren’t tuned quite as low as back in the day, and the tempos aren’t as slow— it sounds like Goatsnake have got their wagon

Geof Bradfield Group ! COURTESY THE ARTIST wheels out of the mud. The new record is less miasmic and nightmarish, and though it’s just as thoroughly saturated with pitch-black blues, it’s sassier, looser, and more upbeat, bustling with strutting boogie beats and hip-check syncopations. The catchy, enveloping riffs seem to tell you exactly where to nod your head, but the songs’ obvious metrical convolutions make staying on the backbeat surprisingly tough—the way these guys deliberately fuck with what they do best makes them seem charmingly louche. Plus Stahl keeps the music planted in the dirt with his soulful, self-assured melodies and scuffed-boots harmonica solos. —PHILIP MONTORO

JUST ANNOUNCED

SPECIAL GUEST CORKY SIEGEL

2/18 CLAIRE LYNCH BAND & THE QUEBE SISTERS 3/3 AN INTIMATE EVENING WITH RICKIE LEE JONES 3/6 THE HIGH KINGS 3/13 5PM & 8PM MONTEREY JAZZ FESTIVAL ON TOUR 4/11-13 THE MOUNTAIN GOATS 6/4 KRIS ALLEN

1200 west randolph | 312.red.wine | citywinery.com

48 CHICAGO READER - DECEMBER 10, 2015

Vince Staples 9 PM, Bottom Lounge, 1375 W. Lake, sold out. 17+ It’s been five years since Odd Future thrust themselves into the mainstream, and though the LA hip-hop collective now appears to be deteriorating, its members’ earliest moves still reverberate.

Earl Sweatshirt’s 2010 debut mixtape, Earl, not only introduced the world to one of the best of the Odd Future bunch, but it also introduced us to unaffiliated MC Vince Staples. Like Sweatshirt, the 22-year-

WEDNESDAY16 Los Lobos See Sunday. Leeroy Stagger opens.

8 PM, City Winery, 1200 W. Randolph, sold out. b Joanna Newsom See “Pick of the week” on page 45. Alela Diane & Ryan Francesconi open.

8 PM, Chicago Theatre, 175 N. State, $29.50$59.50. b v

COMING SOON

ON SALE AT NOON THURSDAY 12/10 ON SALE TO VINOFILE MEMBERS TUESDAY 12/8

1/18 SYLEENA JOHNSON 1/24 IAN MAKSIN WITH

Los Lobos See Sunday. Leeroy Stagger opens.

8 PM, City Winery, 1200 W. Randolph, sold out. b

old Staples has since transcended those beginnings to become one of the most impressive young artists in hip-hop. On his auspicious debut, June’s Summertime ’06 (ARTium/Def Jam), a double album, Staples meanders through the back alleys and bedrooms of Long Beach as he dodges bullets, escapes scrapes with cops, and pieces together a sense of adulthood while holding on to scraps of childhood. Through it all the amiable Staples swerves from one sonic palette to the next, cohesively stringing together tracks built from worshipful organs or bombastic turn-up bass. Staples’s trenchant vision lends his words a palpable heft, and on the slow-moving “Summertime” it’s easy to picture the July heat pounding the cracked asphalt of LA streets. Staples half-sings “This could be forever, baby,” which I’ve often felt on summer days that linger in my memory—and like those days, Summertime ’06 wraps up sooner than I’d wish. —LEOR GALIL

December 10

SPECIAL GUESTS NORA O’CONNOR W/ GERALD DOWD

RHETT MILLER’S HOLIDAY EXTRAVAGANZA December 30

LIVING COLOUR 7 & 10 PM

12/19

City Winery Kids Concert Series AMY LOWE & KINGKATZ: HOLIDAY MAGIC NOON

12/19 Tab Benoit 7 PM & 10 PM 12/21-23 Michael McDermott Mischief & Mistletoe 12/21: ALL REQUEST SHOW 1/1 Todd Sheaffer of Railroad Earth NEW YEAR’S DAY BRUNCH SHOW - 1PM

1/1 Lynne Jordan & the Shivers 1/3 Pokey LaFarge - Special Solo Show 1/7 Dwele 7 PM & 9:30 PM WITH DJ MARK FULLAFLAVA 1/10 The Bad Plus 7 PM

December 31

TICKET INCLUDES GLASS OF BUBBLY

ROBERT RANDOLPH & THE FAMILY BAND 7:30 PM & 11 PM

1/15 Peter Mulvey, Paul Cebar, and Willy Porter 1/17 Del McCoury Band 5PM 1/17 Del McCoury Band with Jeff Austin Band

8PM

1/4 & 1/5, 1/25 & 26

STEVE EARLE

JOBS

JOBS

SALES & MARKETING

SALES & MARKETING

RENTALS

1 BR UNDER $700

STUDIO $900 AND OVER

7022 S. SHORE DRIVE Impecca-

RAVENSWOOD.

The Chicago Reader is seeking an entry-level advertising salesperson to be based out of the downtown Chicago office. This sales executive will work as a member of a creative and collaborative team focused on digital, mobile, social, online and print advertising solutions.

The right candidate will work to form partnerships with local advertisers to assess and address their advertising challenges. We are seeking self-starters with a strong motivation to learn advertising strategy and who are comfortable in the digital world.

WIN-

JAN. 1! Extra large Ravenswood 2 1/2 rm studio! Only 1 blk to Metra,LA Fitness, Marianos Grocery!LANDLORD PAYS HEAT AND COOKING GAS! HDWD FLRS, LOADS OF CLOSET SPACE! $975.00.

4830 N. Wolcott (773) 381-0150. www.theschirmfirm.com HUGE

2

1/2

rm studio in Ravenswood! Lovely hdwd flrs, fantastic closet space! Built in china cabinets! $975.00: LANDLORD PAYS HEAT AND COOKING GAS! 4914 N. WOLCOTT (773) 381-0150. www.the schirmfirm.com

Requirements: - Previous experience preferred - Must be familiar with the Reader brand - Must have some college education; bachelor’s degree preferred Professional, courteous and motivated individuals are strongly encouraged to apply.

STUDIO OTHER

Interested parties, please send resume, cover letter and salary considerations to garroyo@suntimes.com.

Please put "Account Executive" in the subject line.

CHICAGO, HYDE PARK Arms

Hotel, 5316 S. Harper, maid, phone, cable ready, fridge, private facilities, laundry avail. $160/wk Call 773-4933500

The Chicago Reader is an Equal Opportunity Employer

TELESALES! NEED EXCEPTIONAL diamond in the rough

salesperson to sell radio time. Bonus incentives and high earnings for right person. Need big fish for small pond.

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N.

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Sell public service announcements for radio stations. Great income potential for strong sales closers with excellent communication skills. Excellent commission. No appointment setters!

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

CHESTER. Studio available now. $935. Beautiful courtyard building.

Hardwood floors. Heat included.

Close to Lawrence Ave. and great transportation. For appointment, call 312-822-1037 weekdays until 5:30pm, Saturdays 9am-3pm and Sundays 10am-2pm.

Account Executive

RADIO PHONE SALES.

CROSSROADS HOTEL SRO SINGLE RMS Private bath, PHONE,

REAL ESTATE

CLEAN ROOM WITH fridge and microwave. Close to Oak Park, Walmart, Buses & Metra. $105/wk & up. 773-637-5957

3RED TRADING IS seeking a

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For OPEN HOUSE info, visit WWW.MCCOLLEGE.EDU

Diploma & Certificate Programs:

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Office hours, programs, and class schedules vary by location.

Please call us or visit our website for details.

We accept international students.

MIDWESTERN CAREER COLLEGE

Chicago 20 N. Wacker Dr. (@downtown) (312) 236-9000

CHICAGO. 82ND & JUSTINE. 1bdrm. near transportation. $675/ mo.

1 month rent + 1 month Security.

Heat included. 773-873-1591

CHICAGO - $299 Move In Special!

110th & Michigan, Quaint 1BR Apts, $560/month.

Available now Secure building.

1-800-770-0989 CHICAGO, BEVERLY / Cal Park / Blue Island Studio $525 & up, 1BR $625 & up, 2BR $875 & up. Heat, Appls, Balcony, Carpet, Laundry, Prkg. 708-388-0170

Chicago, Chatham & Beverly 1 & 2BD avail Newly Updated. heat incl, hdwd floors, enclosed back porch, intercom, Mr. Rick 773-9947562

CHICAGO 70th & King Dr, 1BR, clean, quiet, well maintained bldg, Lndry + Heat. Section 8 ok. $640/ mo. 773-510-9290.

312-236-9000

Now offers Associate of Applied Science Degrees

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

BIG ROOM WITH stove, fridge, bath & new floor. N. Side, by transp/ shop. Clean w/elevator. $116/wk + up. 773-561-4970

General

• MRI Technologist • Health Information Technology (includes 3 certifications: Medical Billing, Coding, and Medical Office Administration) • Non-Invasive Cardiovascular Sonography (diploma & degree options) • Diagnostic Medical Sonography (diploma & degree options)

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

stove, fridge & bath, by Shopping & Transp. Elevator, Lndry. $116/wk. & Up. Call 773-275-4442

EDGEWATER - NICE Room with

BECOME A

AAS Accredited Degree Programs:

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

79th & Woodlawn 2BR $775$800; 76th & Phillips Studios & 1BR $550-$700. Remodeled, appls avail. Sect 8 welcome. Call 312286-5678

HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONAL QRM NEEDS STATISTICAL Research Analyst to perform statistical quality assurance & testing of financial mkt data sources to insure risk mgt sw reflects fin data. Design statistical testing of mkt analysis used by portfolio mgrs to refactor risk mgt sw functionality & improve usability, incr precision & enhance fin analysis & to ensure statistical models efficiently analyze fin securities for client profitability thru modeling cash flow & valuation of fin instruments. Perform statistical research on fin mkt data & develop statistical models of fin mkt perf to design fin mkt forecast solutions based on stat analysis, modeling, & simulation results to project fin institution B/S, I/S, & variable credit risk measures. Develops fin quality assurance proc for statistical models that assess impact to changes in interest rates, credit ratings & equity prices. Req Masters Degree in Statistics or Biostatistics.

Send resumes to: Attn: XCGC, P.O. Box 61038 Chicago, IL 60606

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

Naperville Blue Island 200 E. 5th Ave. 12840 S. Western Ave. (@Metra Station) (@Metra Station) (630) 536-8679 (708) 926-9470

Midwestern Career College is approved by the Division of Private Business and Vocational Schools of the Illinois Board of Higher Education. Gainful Employment information for each program is available on our website at www.mccollege.edu under program descriptions.

SOUTH SHORE 1, 2 & 3BR Apts.

LOOK WHAT WE have! Nice 1 BR

Newly Decor, $650-$1000/mo. Sec 8 Welcome. Serious Callers Only. Call Frank 708-205-4311

Apt $630. Nice 2BR Apt $720 near 83rd and Hermitage. Nicely decorated, heat incl. App. only 773-783-7098

APT FOR RENT 1, 2, 3 Bedrooms, section 8 welcome, free moving truck w/ driver, no security deposit.

847-436-8394

AUSTIN AREA, 2BR Apartment, 2nd floor, hardwood floors, small newer building, $700/mo + utilities. Call 773-457-2284

706 WEST 76TH STREET, 1 & 2BR Apts Available, heat included. Starting at $650/mo.

Call 773-495-0286

SOUTH SHORE: 1408 East 76th St. 1 BR, nice clean Apt in a quiet building. Serious Inquiries Only. $750 /mo. 773-368-3435

CALUMET CITY, HUGE 1BR, 1Ba, Newly rehabbed, appliances incl., $700/mo. + 1 month security.

Section 8 ok. Call 510-735-7171

Bronzeville - 2BR, 6 rooms, 1BA apt, near transportation, fireplace, dishwasher, util not incl. $985/mo + sec. 312-771-0683

CHICAGO - HYDE Park

CICERO - STUDIOS & 1BRS, Heat included. No dogs. Call Ken 773-391-1460

CHATHAM, 704 E. 81st (Langley) 1BR, 3rd flr. $650/mo + security.

Call Mr. Joe at 708-870-4801

LAKESIDE TOWER, 910 W

5401 S. Ellis.

1BR. $600/mo Call 773-955-5106

CHICAGO - 1216 W 91st St, 1BR, heated, appliances, ceiling fans, laundry room, $670 + security deposit, Call 312-296-0411

1 BR $700-$799 PLAZA ON THE PARK 608 East 51st Street. Very spacious renovated apartments. 1BR $722 - $801, 2BR $837 - $1,009, 3BR $1,082- $1,199, 4-5BR $1,273 - $1,405. Visit or call (773)548-9300, M-F 9am-5pm or apply online at www.plazaonthepark apts.com Managed by Metroplex, Inc

2BR APTS 78TH &

1 BR $800-$899 Lawrence. 1 bedrooms starting at $825-$895 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

ONE BEDROOM APARTMENT

near Metra and Warren Park, 1904 W Pratt. Hardwood floors. Cats OK. Laundry in building. $830/ month.

Heat included. Available 1/1. 773-7614318, www.lakefrontmgt.com

6921 N. GREENVIEW 1 Bdrm

$850. Heat included. Call Kara 773895-6365 or Paul J. Quetschke & Co. 773-281-8400 (Mon.-Fri. 9-5)

Calumet, $825; 82nd & King Dr. $900. Tenant pays own heat. Credit check fee $40.

Call/text 773-203-9399 or 773-4849250

ROGERS PARK, 7400N & 1900W. Newly Decor 1BR, free gas & heat. no pets or smoking. $850 + dep. Sec 8 welc. 847-477-2790

BRIDGEPORT AREA 1 or 2 bed-

bdrm at 75/Colfax. No move-in fee or sec dep. Heat included. Sec 8 welcome. Call 773-234-6257

room apartment, 5 min. south of downtown, Nice neighborhood near 31st & Wells. Very nice apt. must see. $750/mo. Call Mark 773-843-1350

CHICAGO, 5212 S. Cornell, Studio, $625. Oversized Studio, $675. All utilities included, laundry room. For More Info Call: 773-908-6576

NEWLY REMODELED 2 & 3

1 BR $900-$1099 HOMEWOOD- DELUXE 1BR, Great Kit, New Appls, Oak Flrs, A/C, Lndry & Storage, $915 Incls ht & prkg. 773.

743.4141

EDGEWATER. 1055 W Catalpa 1

bedrooms starting at $925 heat and cooking gas included! Application fee $40. No security deposit. Parking available for an additional fee. Laundry room in the building, wood floors, close to grocery stores, restaurant, CTA Red Line train, etc. For a showing please contact Millie 773561-7070 Hunter Properties,Inc. 773477-7070 www.hunterprop.com

Hyde Park West Apts., 5325 S. Cottage Grove Ave., Renovated spacious apartments in landscaped gated community. Off street parking available. Studio $674 Free heat, 1BR $833-$869 - Free heat; 2BR $995 Free heat. Visit or call 773-324-0280, M-F: 9am-5pm or apply online- ww w.hydepark west.com. Managed

by Metroplex, Inc

5023 N. ASHLAND 1 bdrm $985.

Heat included. Call Kara 773-8956365 or Paul J. Quetschke & Co. 773281-8400 (Mon.-Frid. 9-5)

1 BR $1100 AND OVER LINCOLN PARK/ DEPAUL. W.

GEORGE & SEMINARY. Great 1 bedroom available 2/1/16-4/30/16. $1170 per month. New 12 month lease also available. Hardwood floors, heat included. Great location for DePaul and transportation. For appointment, call 312-822-1037 weekdays until 5:30pm, Saturdays 9am-3pm and Sundays 10am-2pm.

LINCOLN PARK. ADDISON.

Prime location 1 bedrooms available 1 2/1. From $1245. Beautiful courtyard building steps from the lake and transportation. Hardwood floors, heat included. For appointment, call 312-822-1037 weekdays until 5:30pm, Saturdays 9am-3pm and Sundays 10am-2pm.

LINCOLN PARK LANDMARK.

BELMONT/ HUDSON. 2 buildings from the lakefront. Large 4 rooms/ 1 bedroom with full dining room, oak floors. Available now for $1300. Heat included. For appointment, call 312822-1037 weekdays until 5:30pm, Saturdays 9am-3pm and Sundays 10am-2pm.

This Dope’s

sTill legal in Dorm rooms

Get some at sTraighTDope.com DECEMBER 10, 2015 | CHICAGO READER 49

GORGEOUS ENGLISH TUDOR

courtyard building! Beautiful hdwd flrs, built-in bookshelves, onsite lndry /storage. Only 2 blks to Irving Park "EL"! $1150.00 ht incl. (773)381-0150. www.theschirmfirm.com

1 BR OTHER SECTION 8 AFFORDABLE Housing Waiting List is now open!!

1, 2, & 3 Bdrms 2443 W. Dugdale Rd Waukegan, IL 60085

APPLY NOW!!! You must apply in person & all adults must be present.

ID, Social Security Card & Birth Certificate REQUIRED Contact: Management Office 847-336-4400

APTS. FOR RENT PARK MANAGEMENT & Investment Ltd. Summer is Here but.. Winter is on its Way! Most Include HEAT & HOT WTR Studios From $510.00 1Bdr From $550.00. 2Bdr From $ 775.00. 3 Bdr/2 Full Bath. From $1200. **1-(773)-476-6000** CALL FOR DETAILS CHICAGO - CHATHAM NO SEC DEP. Spacious updated 1BR from $600 & 2BR from $800 with great closet space. Incl: stove /fridge, hdwd flrs, blinds, heat & more!!!

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All utilities included.

773-616-7673

Ashland Hotel nice clean rms.

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

Low rates daily/weekly/monthly.

South Side. Call 773-376-5200

CALUMET CITY 158TH & PAXTON SANDRIDGE APTS 1 & 2 BEDROOM UNITS MODELS OPEN M-F, 9AM-5:30PM *** 708-841-5450 *** CHICAGO, 7727 S. Colfax, ground flr Apt., ideal for senior citizens. Secure bldng. Modern 1BR $595. Lrg 2BR, $800. Free cooking & heating gas. Free parking. 312613-4427 CHICAGO - BEVERLY, LARGE 2 room Studio & 1BR, Carpet, A/C, laundry, near transportation, $640-$750/mo.

Call 773-233-4939 77TH/LOWE 1 & 2BR. May 2BR, 69th/Dante, 1st/ Bennett 2 & 3BR. Essex 3BR. New renov. ok. 708-503-1366

101st/ 3BR. 7 77th/ Sec 8

SUBURBS, RENT TO O W N !

Buy with No closing costs and get help with your credit.

Call 708-868-2422 or visit w ww.nhba.com CHICAGO, RENT TO OWN! Buy with no closing costs and get help with your credit. Call 708-868-2422 or visit www. nhba.com WINTER SPECIAL $500 To-

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

95th & Colfax, 3BR, 1 BA, lrg master BR formal LR & DR, cerami c/hrdwd flrs, huge fenced yd tenant pays utils. $1350/m 773-3924126.

Large Sunny Room w/fridge & microwave. Nr. Oak Park, Green Line, bus. 24 hour desk, parking lot. $101/week & Up. 773-3788888

MOVE IN SPECIAL!!!

B4 the N of this MO. & MOVE IN 4 $99.00 (773) 874-1122

CHICAGO SOUTH SHORE Newly remodeled Studio, 1 & 2 BRApts. Near Metra, Cats OK. $500-$775/mo. Ray 312-375-2630

CHICAGO, 7757 S. Winchester.

68TH & HERMITAGE 2BR $700 3BR $800. 62nd & May 2BR $800 3BR $900 HEAT INCLUDED. 847-977-3552

Recenty decorated, large 4 room, 1BR, 3rd flr, fully heated, $600 Charles (Manager) 312-401-0911

NO MOVE-IN FEE! No Dep! Sec 8

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

773-874-0100

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

2 BR UNDER $900 APARTMENT FOR RENT 5 rooms, 2.5 bedrooms, enclosed porch, newly decorated, 5845 N Maplewood, Chicago. Available January 1. $1300/mo. Heat included. Security deposit required. No pets. 773-293-3399 2 KING SIZE BRS, 5 rms, 6122 S. St. Lawrence, new kit, BA,fans, crpt, appls, balc, lndry, $735 + utils. Sec 8 & Seniors Welc. 312-

504-2008

78TH AND THROOP. 4rms, 2BR, hdwd flrs, modern kitch and bath, tenant pays heat. $600. No Sec Dep. Brown Realty Inc. 773239-9566 CHICAGO, SPACIOUS 2BR, 8605 S. May. Heat included.

Tenant pays cooking gas & electric.

Garage available. $850/mo.

720-331-2601

WINTER SPECIAL! 2BR, remod w/ cherry wood cabinets feat Kohler kit & BA. Ten pays utils. $575/mo + sec. 86 th/Escanaba. 773-415-4970

CHICAGO SOUTH SIDE Beauti-

62ND/CALIFORNIA 2BR $740 & $820 or 3BR $920 Heat incl in all & Sec Dep req.

O’Brien Family Realty 773-581-7883 Agent owned

7637 S. PHILLIPS. Large 3BR, 2

CHICAGO SOUTHSIDE BRAND new 2, 3 & 4BR apts. Excel-

ful Studios, 1,2,3 & 4 BR’s, Sec 8 ok. $500 gift certificate for Sec 8 tenants. 773-287-9999/312-446-3333 Full Bath, hdwd flrs, renovated kitchen with appls, A/C. $1100/mo. Sec 8 Welc. 773-343-1808 before 6pm

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

CHICAGO 7600 S Essex 2BR $599, 3BR $699, 4BR $799 w/apprvd credit, no sec dep. Sect 8 Ok! 773287-9999 /312-446-3333 CHATHAM 73RD & INDIANA. Beautiful, Large 2BR, laundry rm, security cameras, near transp. $775/mo. 312-341-1950 1-2 BEDROOM TWO FLAT, garage parking, yard, nice front porch. $700-$800. 773-716-6740

2 BR $1100-$1299 LINCOLN PARK. ADDISON.

Prime location 2 bedrooms available now from $1260. Beautiful courtyard building steps from the lake and transportation. Hardwood floors, heat included. For appointment, call 312-822-1037 weekdays until 5:30pm, Saturdays 9am-3pm and Sundays 10am-2pm.

EAST ROGERS PARK, steps to

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

RIVERDALE - Newly Remodeled,

2 BR Apartment. Stove, Fridge, A/C, Heat & Gas included.

Call 773-297-4784

NO SECURITY DEPOSIT 1431 W. 78TH. St. 2BR. $595/mo 6829 S. Perry. Studio $460. 1BR. $515. HEAT INCL 773-955-5106

7941 S. Coles- 3BR, 2BA, wall to wall carpet. $795/mo.

773-285-3206

2 BR $900-$1099 2BR, 5RM, JUMBO all new rehab,

kitc/bath, hdwd, sec. 8 ready, 6959 S May. 773-467-8200. 773-405-9361 Gina. $710 +300 move in fee. Heat seperate

SEC 8 WELC 86th/Ex change

Beautiful, Newly remod. in 2 flat bldg, 2BR, LR,/DR Combo, nr metra. $850. Jewel 312-374-1387

2153 N. BELL 2 Bdrm $905. Water

included. Call Kara 773-895-6365 or Paul J. Quetschke & Co. 773-2818400 (Mon.-Fri. 9-5)

2 BEDROOM, 4RM, 655 W 80th New unit, new floors,Quiet, Section 8 Ready, 773-899-8816, 773-405-9361 Al, $680 + 300 move in fee.

CHICAGO - 6747 S. PAXTON, newly renovated, 2BR, 2BA, HWFs throughout, $950/mo, ht & parking space incl., 773-285-3206

Evanston 1BR - Sun filled, 900sf, eat-in kitc, new appl, new windows, $950/heated. onsite lnd ry/stor. 773-743-4141 www. urbanequities.com

OVER

BELMONT/ HUDSON. 2 buildings from the lakefront. Large 5 room/ 2 bedrooms with full dining room, oak floors. Available now from $1700.

Heat included. For appointment, call 312-822-1037 weekdays until 5:30pm, Saturdays 9am-3pm and Sundays 10am-2pm.

4163 N LINCOLN AVE. 2 Bdrm $1900. Water Included. Call Kara

773-895-6365 or Paul J. Quetschke & Co. 773-281-8400 (Mon.-Fri 9-5)

2 BR OTHER CHICAGO, PRINCETON PARK

HOMES. Spac 2 - 3 BR Townhomes, Inclu: Prvt entry, full bsmt, lndry hook-ups. Ample prkg. Close to trans & schls. Starts at $816/mo. www. ppkhomes.com;773-264-3005

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

Move In Special is 1 Month’s Rent & $99 Security Deposit. Section 8 Welcome. Call 708-748-4169

EVANSTON 2BR, 1100SF, great kit, new appls, DR, oak flrs, lndry, $1195/mo incls heat. 773743-4141 www.urbanequities.com

BEAUTIFUL NEW APT! 7657 S. Phillips Ave 2bdrm 8127 S. Ingleside Ave 4bdrm Stainless Steel!! Appliances!! hdwd flr!! marble bath!! laundry on site!!

Sec 8 OK. 773- 404- 8926

3752 N. SOUTHPORT 2 Bdrm

$1100. Water included. Call Kara 773895-6365 or Paul J. Quetschke & Co. 773-281-8400 (Mon.-Fri 9-5)

RENT TO OWN 2, 3, 4 & 5BR Homes 2 & 3 BR apts also avail, Sec 8 OK. 708-737-2036 312-662-3963

3232 N LEAVITT, 2 bdrm $1100.

7837 S. WOOD, 3BR, 1st flr.

Electricity included. Call Kara 773895-6365 or Paul J. Quetschke & Co. 773-281-8400 (Mon.-Fri 9-5)

IRVING PARK 2 BR, 1 BA two-unit

walk-up. Fresh paint. Carpet floors, laundry on-site and parking. $1200/month + 1mo sec. dep. 773.463.0501

2nd flr Apt. Heat, appliances, & parking included. Coin-op Laundry. $1250/mo.Call 708-829-7715

2 BR $1300-$1499 EDGEWATER GLEN! 6144 N.

Lakewood. Must See! Sunny and spacious 2 bedroom at $1300. Hardwood floors throughout, large bedrooms, updated kitchen with dishwasher and tile floor, back deck with a small yard. Separate dining and living room creating lots of living space. Steps to public transportation and nightlife. Heat included! Application fee $40. No security deposit.

Parking space available. For a showing please contact Tom 773-9832340. Hunter Properties 773-4777070. www.hunterprop.com

LINCOLN PARK. W. BR IA R PLACE. Get one bedroom plus den or use as a 2nd bedroom. Available 1 /1 for $1400. Small high-rise with super-sized rooms. Carpeted and air conditioned. Heat included. For appointment, call 312-822-1037 weekdays until 5:30pm, Saturdays 9am3pm and Sundays 10am-2pm.

LINCOLN

PARK.

ADDISON.

Great 2 bedroom available now–4/ 30/16! $1465 per month. Heat included. Courtyard building steps from the lake and transportation. For appointment, call 312-822-1037 weekdays until 5:30pm, Saturdays 9am-3pm and Sundays 10am-2pm.

BUDLONG WOODS,2BD-2BR 2ND Fr SS App H-Wood Jacuzzi

Granite Countr SS App Parking Storage. W & D in unit, Credit & Backgr check. $1400/-MO. MJ Chowdhury (773) 744-7792.

IRVING PARK 2 BR, 1 BA five-unit

walk-up. Hardwood floors, on-site laundry and parking incld. $1300 + 1mo sec. dep. 773.463.0501

7641 S. SANGAMON, Newly remod, 3br/1ba. 1st floor in a 2 flat building. Sect. 8 welcome. $900/mo + dep. incl heat. 773-750-1719.

LINCOLN PARK LANDMARK.

Elmhurst: Beaut 1BR new appl, carpet, AC, sunny LR, overlooks pool $850 incls ht/ prkg. 773-743-4141 www. urbanequities.com

HILLSIDE, BEAUTIFUL 3BR,

50 CHICAGO READER | DECEMBER 10, 2015

2 BR $1500 AND

w/ LR, DR. Heat incl. No pets.

Sect 8 OK. Background check.

773-450-8211

3 BR OR MORE UNDER $1200 Cornerstone Apts., 4907 S. St Lawrence, Newly Remodeled. 3 BR starting $998-$1090/mo. Visit or call (773) 548-9211. M-F: 9am-5pm or apply on line. www.

4907cornerstoneapts.com Managed by Metroplex, Inc. ALERT! ALERT! Apt Avail. No Sec Dep. Holiday Special. 3BR, 2BA w /laundry, new construction building. $975/mo. Hurry Won’t last long! 7950 S. Greenwood.

Call 312-898-1160 or 312-399-1877 WESTSIDE- 3BR UNFURNISHED Apt. Storage room and

closed porch. 1 mo sec. $985/mo. plus util Sec 8 may apply.

773-522-0284

ALERT! ALERT! Apt avail. No Sec Dep. Holiday Special. 3BR, 1BA, $875/mo. 41 W. 14th Pl. Chicago

Heights, Lincoln Hwy/ Chicago Rd. Call 312-898-1160 or 312-399-1877

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

708-288-4510 CHICAGO 5246 S. Hermitage: 4BR Coach House. $765. 2BR 1st flr, $525. 3BR, 2nd flr, $625.

1.5 mo sec req’d. 708-574-4085.

3BR HOUSE - 108th Place.

Appls incl, no pets, Sec 8 welcome or Rent to Own. $895 + heat. 312-810-9927

61ST/RHODES. NEWLY DECORATED 3BR, DR, heat incl. $875/ mo. Sect 8 OK. 773-874-9637 or 773-493-5359

HARVEY - 14815 WINCHES-

TER . 3BR, 1.5BA, basement, $1100/ mo + 1 mo sec. Section 8 ok.

Call 708-263-9636 CALUMET CITY, 3BR, 1.5BA, 2 car gar, fully rehab w/gorgeous finishes w/ hdwd flrs. Sec 8 OK. $1125/mo Call 510-735-7171

PARK FOREST- SOUTH Suburb 3BR,2BA Ranch. Appls included. $1150/mo + sec. Sect 8 welcome!

Call before 5pm. 708-756-7918

AUSTIN AREA-5215 W Augusta Blvd, 2BR, $850/month heat included plus security deposit 773-251-6652 CHICAGO - 44 W 114th St. Attn Sec 8 tenants, newly remod 3BR, 1 ba, hdwd flrs, W/D hookup, $8 50/month. 312-451-3420.

3 BR OR MORE $1200-$1499 LINCOLN BY BRYN Mawr, 2nd flr, spacious 3.5BR, 1BA, hdwd floors, C/A, patio. $1250-$1350/mo, water incl. Immed Occup. Call 312-7300053 NICELY REHAB, FRESH paint, 3 bed-room, 1 bath home 56th & Racine. call Sam 630-336-6821 We only ac-cept Sec 8 {\pard \brdrb \brdrs \brdrw10 \brsp20 \par} 10127 PEORIA NEWLY rehab 2+2BR in multi level apt, 1.5ba, tenant pays heat & elec. $1200/ mo. 1st mo rent and fee. 708-4176999 COUNTRY CLUB HILLS vic of 183RD/Cicero.

4BR, 1.5BA $1400 & 3BR/2BA. $1450.

Ranch Style, 2 car gar. 708369-5187 CHICAGO: E. ROGERS Park 6726 N. Bosworth Ave. Beaut. 3BR, 2BA, DR, LR, Hrdwd flrs. Nr trans/ shops. Heat, appls, laundry incl. $1400. Available now. 847-475-3472

û1428 W. 110th St. 4BR House, wall to wall carpenting. Sect 8 OK. $1275/ mo 773-285-3206 CHICAGO, 3015 W. 71st St. 3BR - Appls, w/new stove. Hdwd flrs, nr public trans. $900/mo + utils. 773505-5405

3 BR OR MORE $1500-$1799 LAKEVIEW! 1739 W. Addison.

Must See. 3 bedrooms at $1725.

Hardwood floors, completely renovated apartments, 1 blk to CTA Brown Line on Addison, walking distance to shops, restaurants, Wrigley Field, and more! Application fee $40. No security deposit! Parking space available for a monthly fee. For a showing please call Saida 773-407-6452, Hunter Properties 773-477-7070 ww w.hunterprop.com

LARGE

3BR/2BTH

WITH

FEA-TURES BRAND NEW KITCH & AP-PLIANCES. 1700 SQ. FT. W/ HARD-WOODS & LARGE ROOMS. $1600, INCLUDES HEAT. CHAD 312-720-3136

ASHBURN 7601 S MAPLEWOOD Beaut 4BR, 2BA house, granite ctrs, whirlpool tub, fin bsmt, S.S appls, $1600/mo Call 708-288-4510

NEAR 83RD & YATES. 5BR, 2BA, hdwd flrs, fin basement, stove & fridge furn. Heat incl. $1600 + 1 mo sec. Sect 8 ok. 773978-6134

SCOTTSDALE 4148 W. 77th Pl. Beautifully rehabbed 3BR, 2BA house, granite counters, SS appliances, A/C, fin. bsmnt, 4-car gar. $1600/mo. 708-288-4510

3 BR OR MORE $1800-$2499 GREAT EVANSTON CAMPUS

4 BEDROOMS! Ridge/ Davis. Large 6½-7 rooms/ 4 bedrooms/ 2 bathrooms. Available now. From $2395.

Beautiful courtyard buildings near Northwestern, Evanston downtown, restaurants, movies, “L” and Metra.

Large, airy rooms with hardwood floors, high ceilings, spacious closets, 2 bathrooms. Heat included. For appointment, call 312-822-1037 weekdays until 5:30pm, Saturdays 9am3pm and Sundays 10am-2pm.

3 BR OR MORE $2500 AND OVER

LUXURY APARTMENTS

CHICAGO, 65TH & Paulina.

PARK FOREST 3 Kentucky Ct, 3BR, 2BA, newly dec $1400/mo. avail now. 1 m sec &1 mo rent. Tenant pays heat. 773-851-4576

3 BR OR MORE

2 AND 3 BEDROOMS, AC, REMODELED TEXT ONLY AT: 847-877-6855

8537 S Aberdeen .Sec 8 Wel, garage newly remod 4BR, 2BA, hdwd flrs, W/D hookup, A/C low sec dep. $1400. 312-451-3420.

Large 6 room apt, 3BR, Newly remodeled, enclosed back porch, $830 /mo. Call 708-545-5652

OTHER

HARVEY - 14910 S. Lincoln Ave. Freshly Updated 5BR, 2 full bath. Stove & fridge incl. Quiet block. $1100/mo. Sect 8 welc!

773-501-0503

North Wrigleyville 4128 N. Clarendon Furnished rooms for rent from $135 a week or $540/month

2 blocks from the lake • 4 blocks from “El” Express bus stop at front door • Private bath Ceiling fans / mini-blinds New carpeting / refrigerator • Laundry in building Microwaves • On-site manager

By Appointment Only 773-929-7778 No Pets Allowed

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

224-223-7787

CHICAGO, UPDATED 3BR House, 11734 Prairie. Appliances included. $1250/mo. Tenant pays own utilities. Near public trans 708-408-7075

CHICAGO HEIGHTS 3, 4 OR 5

MORGAN PARK - $1500/mo.

SOUTH SUBURBS - B e a u t Remod., 3BR, LR, DR, 1BA, eat-in kit, W/W carpet, appliances incl. Must see! Section 8 ok. 708-785-6547

115th & Ashland. 5BR, 1.5Ba, HW fl, Stove & fridge incl., close to public transit, public schl dist. 299. Sec. 8 welc. 773-766-2640

SOUTH SIDE BEAUTIFUL, spacious, 6BR, 2BA, 2 levels feature hardwood flrs, wtw carpet, full fin bsmnt. Must see. Sec. 8 OK. 708-7856547 7311 S. OGLESBY. 3-4BR, 2 blks from metra, stove/ refrig incl, ceiling fans, c/a indiv heat & 24 hr secure Sec 8 wel c 773-577-1097 Chatham 2BR condo: cent air, parking, laundry, $1000/mo, $400 move-in. 79th & State. Call Vernon, RPC 773-785-1400 6117 S. CAMPBELL. 4br Bsmt

Apt Sec 8 Welc. Heat incl, newly decor, high ceilings. Stove/ frig $1050/ mo + 1 mo sec 312-719-0524

BR 2 BATH, NEWLY REMODELED, SECTION 8 OK. 96 W. 15TH NO SEC DEPOSIT 7088224450

Dolton,

14511 Avalon, fully renov 3BR, 1BA, all appls incl, W/D, fully fin bsmt, fncd in yrd. A/C. CHA insp. Sec 8 ok. 773-317-4357

4BR/2BA + 1BR/1BA apts avail,

hardwood flrs and appls incl, close to trans, schools. Sec 8 Welcome. 773443-3200

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

HAZEL CREST 3BR, 2BA, SEC 8 WELCOME Call 312.809.6068.

GENERAL ***WOODLAWN WAITLIST OPENING***

PARK

Woodlawn Park Apartments will be opening: 3 bedroom waitlist on Monday, December 7, 2015 from 9am 5pm at 6144 S Cottage Grove Ave. Woodlawn Park is a Section 8 and tax credit property.

Woodlawn Park is managed by POAH Communities, LLC. Equal housing and handicapped accessible site.

CHICAGO - 78TH/S. Shore & 6943-51 S. Cornell Ave Apts Starting at $550. NO DEPOSIT! HURRY! Call Phyllis 773.495.4133

HOME FOR SALE in Beecher IL

on 7 acres of land, 5BR, 2.5BA, sunroom, 2 fireplaces, 20 stall horse barn. Call 219-798-4944

NEAR UIC-TWO BDRM/ all

appli-cances/washer-dryer in unit/pkg/s-torage/Shirley A. Weisenburger-Broker-708-403-8375

WE BUY HOUSES CASH Apts & Commercial foreclosures, any area, price or condition. We close fast! 708-506-2997

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

773-685-6868.

South: Pershing Avenue. 773-523-6868.

CHICAGO,

Try FREE: 773-867-1235 More Local Numbers: 1-800-926-6000

Ahora español Livelinks.com 18+

60 MINUTES FREE TRIAL

THE HOTTEST GAY CHATLINE

1-312-924-2082 More Local Numbers: 800-777-8000

www.guyspyvoice.com Ahora en Español/18+

BUSY 110TH & Michigan Location. Retail 5251500 Sq Ft & office suites, from $275. Move In Ready. Call Kamm, 773-520-0369

PROFESSIONAL

OFFICE

BUILDING for rent/sale - 4656 W. Touhy, Lincolnwood, Dependable LLC 224-434-7176 huntercorp94@ hotmail.com WE PAY CASH for houses. Multi-

Units & Commercial Buildings. In Chicago & Chicagoland area. Any Shape, Size or Condition. Call Manny 847673-7575

2BR+

NR

83RD/JEFFREY,

heated, decor FP, hdwd flrs, lots of storage, formal DR, intercom, newly remod kitchen & bath. $1000. Missy 773-241-9139

FREE TO LISTEN

CHURCH AND LOT FOR SALE: 7334 S Racine, possibly no money down, for more information contact Pastor Davis, 708-752-2539

AND REPLY TO ADS Free Code: Chicago Reader

5BR 1BA 71st Sangaman $1200/month plus utilities plus security deposit.

708-921-7810

roommates

Meet sexy friends who really get your vibe...

FIND REAL GAY MEN NEAR YOU

(773) 787-0200 www.megamates.com 18+

Try FREE: 312-924-2066 More Local Numbers: 1-800-811-1633

vibeline.com 18+

HEALTH & WELLNESS NEW

MASSAGE

THERAPY.

Miracle Massage by professional masseuse. Good location, free parking, clean and cozy rooms. In /outcalls. 5901 N Cicero, 773-7425259 or 773-209-1448. www. miraclemassageforyou.com. Lic.# 227000368.

NOTICE IS HEREBY given, pursuant to "An Act in relation to the use of an Assumed Business Name in the conduct or transaction of Business in the State," as amended, that a certification was registered by the undersigned with the County Clerk of Cook County. Registration Number: D15144614 on November 20, 2015, under the Assumed Business Name of Speak Nation with the business located at PO Box 5533, Lansing, IL 60438; 22252 Yates Avenue, Sauk Village, IL 60411. The true and real full name(s) and residence address of the owner(s)/ partner(s) is: La Tonja D Ellis, 22252 Yates Avenue, Sauk Village, IL 60411, USA.

NOTICE IS HEREBY given, pursuant to "An Act in relation to the use of an Assumed Business Name in the conduct or transaction of Business in the State," as amended, that a certification was registered by the undersigned with the County Clerk of Cook County. Registration Number: D15144584 on November 19, 2015, under the Assumed Business Name of Festiebands with the business located at 3217 N Walker Ln E, Arlington Heights, IL 60004. The true and real full name(s) and residence address of the owner(s)/ partner(s) is: David Garb, 3217 N Walker Ln E, Arlington Heights, IL 60004, USA.

FOR A HEALTHY mind and body.

FOR SALE

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

REAL PEOPLE REAL DESIRE REAL FUN.

FULL BODY MASSAGE. hotel, house calls welcome $90 special.

Russian, Polish, Ukrainian girls.

Northbrook and Schaumburg locations. 10% discount for new customers. Please call 773-407-7025

SHARED APT, PRIVATE bedroom, women pref. No drugs or alcohol, 7300 S. Vernon Ave, Chicago, IL, 60619. Call 773-5804141 CHICAGO 55TH & Halsted, male preferred. Room for rent, share furn ished apt, free utils, $440/mo. No security. 773-651-8824

MARKETPLACE GOODS

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.

RHONDA MOORE INDEPENDENT AVON Representative 773.577.0981 Rmoore943@gmail

SERVICES LEGAL SERVICES- Need a

lawyer? For as low as $17.95/mo.

Consultations, Contract, Evictions, Foreclosure, Bankruptcy, Traffic Tickets, Expungement, Divorce, Criminal & more. Call Theresa 312-806-0646

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

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

urbs. Hotels. 1234 S Michigan Avenue. Appointments. 312-922-2399.

MUSIC & ARTS DOMINICK D ROCKS Radio Sta-

tion, TV, MTV, VH1, Tube, Loop, B96, Comcast, Motown, Geffen, Intrscope A&M, Octone, Guitar Hero, Def Island.

Love R.S. Bunny 773-481-7429.

NOTICES JEFFERSON PARK SUNDAY

Market - Winter Edition Fischman Liquors Annex 4780 N. Milwaukee Ave. 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. http://www. jeffersonparksundaymarket.com/ Vendors include children’s books, games, toys & story time at noon!

Hydroponic veggies, soaps,pet supplies, meats, eggs, cheese, pastries, pasta, veggie burgers, jams, maple & Honey Products, Coffee, art, jewelry, buttons, tamales & Dave the knife sharpener

MESSAGES UIC VULVODYNIA AND ACUPUNCTURE RESEARCH.

NOTICE IS HEREBY given, pursuant to "An Act in relation to the use of an Assumed Business Name in the conduct or transaction of Business in the State," as amended, that a certification was registered by the undersigned with the County Clerk of Cook County. Registration Number: D15144586 on November 19, 2015, under the Assumed Business Name of Denotes Mobile Notary Services with the business located at 7937 S Dorchester Ave, Chicago, IL 60619.

The true and real full name(s) and residence address of the owner(s)/ partner(s) is: LaDonna J Vickers, 7937 S Dorchester Ave, Chicago, IL 60619, USA.

NOTICE IS HEREBY given, pursuant to "An Act in relation to the use of an Assumed Business Name in the conduct or transaction of Business in the State," as amended, that a certification was registered by the undersigned with the County Clerk of Cook County. Registration Number: D15144547 on November 17, 2015, under the Assumed Business Name of From Home to Heaven with the business located at 3800 Highland Place, Country Club Hills, IL 60478.

The true and real full name(s) and residence address of the owner(s)/ partner(s) is: Chiquita Jackson, 3800 Highland Place, Country Club Hills, IL 60478, USA.

NOTICE IS HEREBY given, pursuant to "An Act in relation to the use of an Assumed Business Name in the conduct or transaction of Business in the State," as amended, that a certification was registered by the undersigned with the County Clerk of Cook County. Registration Number: D15144554 on November 17, 2015, under the Assumed Business Name of Lovely Styles Hair Salon with the business located at 3141 W 71st St., Chicago, IL 60629. The true and real full name(s) and residence address of the owner(s)/ partner(s) is: Joann Stevens, 7125 S Whipple St, Chicago, IL, 60629, USA.

PUBLIC NOTICE IN THE CIRCUIT

COURT OF COOK COUNTY, STATE OF ILLINOIS, NOTICE OF FILING A REQUEST FOR NAME CHANGE Request of: DARIUS VADEN JACKSON, Case No.: 2015 CONC 001089, There will be a court hearing on my request to change my name from DARIUS VADEN JACKSON to the new name of CONNOR DARIUS VADEN JACKSON. The court hearing will be held on January 25, 2016, at 9:30 a.m., at 50 W. Washington Street, Cook County, in Courtroom 1706.

Department of Women, Children, Family Health Science. Contact: Judith Schlaeger, PhD; office; (312) 413-4669 cell: (708) 3341097; jschlaeg@uic.edu

legal notices 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: D15144598 on November 19, 2015 Under the Assumed Business Name of MINDFUL CLASSES with the business located at: 1920 WEST ADDISON, CHICAGO, IL 60613. The true and real full name(s) and residence address of the owner (s)/ partner(s) is: JULIA THERESE SARAZINE, 1920 WEST ADDISON, CHICAGO, IL 60613, USA

NOTICE IS HEREBY given, pur-

suant to “An Act in relation to the use of an Assumed Business Name in the conduct or transaction of Business in the State,” as amended, that a certification was registered by the undersigned with the County Clerk of Cook County. Registration Number: D15144558 on November 17, 2015 Under the Assumed Business Name of PEOPLE TOWING with the business located at: 4240 KOLZE AVE,, SCHILLER PARK, IL 60176. The true and real full name(s) and residence address of the owner (s)/partner(s) is: MARIA CARINA CAMACHO 4240 KOLZE AVE, SCHILLER PARK, IL 60176, USA

NOTICE IS HEREBY given, pur-

suant to “An Act in relation to the use of an Assumed Business Name in the conduct or transaction of Business in the State,” as amended, that a certification was registered by the undersigned with the County Clerk of Cook County. Registration Number: D15144711 on December 2, 2015 Under the Assumed Business Name of NKE with the business located at: 3930 N. KOSTNER, CHICAGO, IL 60641.

The true and real full name(s) and residence address of the owner(s) /partner(s) is: NINA ELLIOT 3930 N. KOSTNER, CHICAGO, IL 60641, USA

Find hundreds of Readerrecommended restaurants, exclusive video features, and sign up for weekly news chicagoreader.com/ food.

DECEMBER 10, 2015 | CHICAGO READER 51

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By Cecil Adams Q : How do mattress stores manage to stay

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A : I see your query, NB, and raise you. To

my mind, it’s not just about how these stores manage to stay in business: the question is, moreover, how are there so goddamn many of them—particularly right now? Where I live, in Chicago, entire blocks are all but overrun with the places. In June a Texas Monthly article described the worrisome proliferation of mattress stores in Houston, where the venerably groovy Montrose neighborhood has become known as “the Mattrose.” An April headline in the Northwest Indiana Times asked, apropos the town of Schererville, “Why the heck are so many mattress stores opening?” So: you and I aren’t the only ones wondering. What gives?

One thing that jars about this state of affairs is that, in the age of Amazon, there’s something very old-economy about mattress stores, beyond their relentlessly cheesy look. No one goes to bookstores to buy books anymore, right? Well, not exactly. A 2014 report by the consulting firm A.T. Kearney found that despite the digital hype, overall a full 90 percent of retail transactions still take place in physical stores. And according to an investor presentation by industry giant Mattress Firm, dedicated mattress stores account for 46 percent of total mattress sales, handily beating out furniture stores (35 percent) and department stores (5 percent) for the largest share of the market.

So mattress delivery by drone is still a ways off. But again, these stores aren’t just surviving, they’re flourishing—that market share has more than doubled in the last 20 years. Why open a mattress store when there’s another just down the street? Turns out the economics make perfect sense: Running a mattress store doesn’t cost much.

Since each store is essentially a showroom, with the product delivered to your home from a warehouse, sellers don’t keep a lot of inventory around. And the salespeople generally work on commission. So contrary to your assumption, overhead is actually pretty low.

The industry is benefiting from postrecession catch-up. According to the trade journal Sleep Retailer, in the years since 2008 and 2009, the rebounding economy—including increasing home ownership—has occasioned “remarkable” growth in the industry, says SR, expected to reach $25 billion globally by 2017. The U.S. is

SLUG SIGNORINO

LINCOLN PARK

in business? They’re all over the place, but the average adult buys a mattress once every five to ten years. With high overhead and infrequent purchases, how are they around?

(This question was inspired by a friend, Bethany.) —NOT BETHANY

the largest retail mattress market worldwide.

The markup is stupendous. This is the big one. Mattress markups are notably higher than for other furniture items: Consumer Reports puts gross profit margins on mattresses at 30 to 40 percent, both for wholesalers and for retailers, and up to 50 percent for makers of superluxe products. One estimate claimed that mainstream retailers can charge $3,000 for a mattress (after wholesale and retail markups, marketing costs, and commissions) that actually cost only $300 to produce. What accounts for this? It’s your classic oligopoly, where the market is dominated by just a few makers— think familiar names like Serta, Sealy, et al.

Certain ancillary factors are working in the mattress pushers’ favor too. Newspapers and lifestyle magazines provide great propaganda in the form of endless encomiums to getting a good night’s sleep, and the well-publicized resurgence of bedbugs certainly plays nicely with the industry’s attempts to get you to replace your mattress more often.

On the principle of Chekhov’s gun, if I use a loaded term like “old economy” in the first act, we’ll be talking about “disruption” here in the third. And lo: some not-exactly-disinterested observers say it’s high time to disrupt the mattress industry, which has been described variously as a “scam,” a “racket,” and, as suggested above, an “oligopoly.” Critics are galled by a system wherein retailers charge exorbitant, and wildly variable, prices for products whose differences from one another are often (a) slight, and (b) described in nonsensical language—e.g., “ComforPedic iQ” with “Ultra Cool Memory Foam” and optional “AirCool Memory Foam with Micro GelTouch.” They point to the eyewear business, which has similarly been called oligopolistic, where the entrepreneurial upstart Warby Parker found success selling cheap glasses to hipsters. Whence the white knight of mattress sales? I found an article profiling one contender whose cofounders show the right credentials—both have Silicon Valley backgrounds, one’s got a great beard—but if I were a mattress seller, I wouldn’t be losing any sleep just yet. v Send questions to Cecil via straightdope.com or write him c/o Chicago Reader, 350 N. Orleans, Chicago 60654.

SAVAGE LOVE

By Dan Savage

Sex work: the long and the short of it

Should a broke 24-year-old ‘prostitute himself’ for $3,000?

Q : I’m a 24-year-old gay

male with few resources and no “marketable” skills. I have made a lot of bad choices and now I struggle to make ends meet in a crappy deadend job, living paycheck to paycheck in an expensive east-coast city. Recently, someone on Grindr offered me $3,000 to have sex with him. He is homely and nearly three times my age, but he seems kind and respectful. I could really use that money.

I have no moral opposition to prostitution, but the few friends I’ve spoken to were horrified. Part of me agrees and thinks this is a really bad idea and I’ll regret it.

But there’s another part of me that figures, hey, it’s just sex—and I’ve done more humiliating things for a lot less money. It makes me sad to think the only way I can make money is prostituting myself, because my looks aren’t going to last forever. And let’s face it: prostitution is an ugly and messy business, and it wouldn’t impress a potential future employer. —STRESSED

OVER TAKING ELDERLY MAN’S PAYMENT TO EAT DICK

A : I shared your letter with

Eric Sprankle, an assistant professor of psychology at Minnesota State University and a licensed clinical psychologist. “This young man is distressed that he may have to resort to ‘prostituting himself,’ which suggests he, like most people, views sex work as the selling of one’s body or the selling of oneself,” said Sprankle.

But you wouldn’t be selling yourself or your body, SOTEMPTED, you would be selling access to your body— temporary access—and whatever particular kind of sex you consented to have with this man in exchange

for his money.

“Sex work is the sale of a service,” said Sprankle. “The service may involve specific body parts that aren’t typically involved in most industries, but it is unequivocally a service-labor industry. Just as massage therapists aren’t selling their hands or themselves when working out the kinks of some wealthy older client, sex workers are merely selling physical and emotional labor.”

“Massage therapists have the privilege of not worrying about being shamed and shunned by friends,” said Sprankle, “and not worrying about being arrested for violating archaic laws.” You will have to worry about shame, stigma, and arrest if you decide to go ahead with this, SOTEMPTED. “He will have to be selective about whom he shares his work experiences with and may have to keep it a lifelong secret from family and coworkers,” said Sprankle. “This could feel isolating and inauthentic. And while I am not aware of any empirical evidence to suggest men who enter sex work in this manner later regret their decision, this young man’s friends have already given him a glimpse of the unfortunate double-standard social stigma of pursuing this work.”

Because I’m a full-service sex-advice professional, SOTEMPTED, I also shared your letter with a couple of guys who’ve actually done sex work—one a bona fide sex worker, the other a sexual adventurer.

“I was struck by the words SOTEMPTED used to describe sex work: ugly, messy, humiliating,” said Mike Crawford, a sex worker, sexworkers-rights activist, and self-identified “cashsexual.”

“For many of us, it’s actually

nothing like that. When you strip away the moralizing and misinformation, sex work is simply a job that provides a valuable service to your clients. There is absolutely nothing inherently ugly or degrading about the work itself.”

What about regrets?

“It’s true that he could wind up regretting doing the paidsex thing,” said Crawford.

“Then again, there’s a chance of regret in almost any hookup. Lots of people who didn’t get paid for sex wind up having postfuck regrets. I’d also encourage him to consider the possibility that he might look back and regret not taking the plunge. I’ve met plenty of sex workers over the years who wish they had started sooner.”

“I don’t regret it,” said Philip (not his real name), a reader who sent me a question about wanting to experience getting paid for sex and later took the plunge. “I felt like I was in the power position. And in the moment, it wasn’t distressing. Just be sure to negotiate everything in advance— what’s on the table and what’s not—and be very clear about expectations and limits.”

One last piece of advice from Mike Crawford: “There is a pretty glaring red flag here: $3,000 is a really, really steep price for a single date.

The old ‘if it sounds too good to be true’ adage definitely applies in sex work. Should he decide to do this, he needs to screen carefully before agreeing to meet in person.

The safety resources on the Sex Workers Outreach Project website (swopusa.org) are a great place for him to learn how to do just that.” v

* limit one per person

* Compensation for toy donations is left to the discretion of management.

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

DECEMBER 10, 2015 - CHICAGO READER 53

b

UPCOMING

Megadeth ! COURTESY WEBSTER PR

NEW

Kris Allen 6/4, 8 PM, City Winery, on sale Thu 12/10, noon b Animal Collective, Ratking 2/27, 7 PM, Concord Music Hall, 17+ Avett Brothers 4/22-23, 8 PM, Chicago Theatre, on sale Fri 12/11, 10 AM b Beausoleil with Michael Doucet 3/3, 7:30 PM, SPACE, Evanston, on sale Sat 12/12, 11 AM b Brian Blade Fellowship 3/4, 7 and 9:30 PM, SPACE, Evanston, on sale Sat 12/12, 11 AM b Blessthefall, Miss May I 3/1, 5:30 PM, Metro, on sale Fri 12/11, 10 AM b Chris Brown 12/13, 8 PM, Aragon Ballroom, 17+ Cannibal Corpse, Obituary, Cryptopsy 2/27, 7:30 PM, Metro, on sale Fri 12/11, noon, 18+ Claire Lynch Band & the Quebe Sisters 2/18, 8 PM, City Winery, on sale Thu 12/10, noon b Cloud Cult 4/3, 8:30 PM, Thalia Hall, 17+ Martin Courtney 2/9, 8 PM, Schubas, on sale Fri 12/11, noon Dengue Fever 4/24, 8 PM, Schubas, on sale Fri 12/11, noon Elliott Brood 2/7, 8 PM, Schubas, on sale Fri 12/11, noon Ben Folds & yMusic 5/13, 8 PM, Riviera Theatre, on sale Fri 12/11, 10 AM, 18+ Jack Garratt 3/6, 8 PM, Lincoln Hall, on sale Fri 12/11, noon, 18+ Josh Groban, Sarah McLachlan 8/9, 7:30 PM, FirstMerit Bank Pavilion, on sale Fri 12/11, 10 AM b

Hawthorne Heights, Ataris 3/6, 5 PM, Bottom Lounge, on sale Fri 12/11, noon b High Kings 3/6, 8 PM, City Winery, on sale Thu 12/10, noon b Hillsong Worship, Kari Jobe, Jesus Culture 4/17, 7 PM, Allstate Arena, Rosemont, on sale Mon 12/14, 10 AM Julia Holter 3/2, 8:30 PM, Constellation, on sale Fri 12/11, 10 AM, 18+ Infected Mushroom 2/20, 9 PM, Concord Music Hall, 18+ Rickie Lee Jones 3/3, 8 PM, City Winery, on sale Thu 12/10, noon b Joseph 3/11, 9 PM, Schubas, on sale Fri 12/11, noon Kaleo 3/2, 6:30 PM, Bottom Lounge, on sale Fri 12/11, noon b Karma Killers 1/28, 8:30 PM, Beat Kitchen, on sale Fri 12/11, 10 AM Leftover Salmon 2/26-27, 8 PM, the Vic, on sale Fri 12/11, 10 AM, 18+ Hamilton Leithauser & Paul Maroon 1/19, 9 PM, Hideout, on sale Fri 12/11, 10 AM Lionize 2/13, 9 PM, Beat Kitchen, on sale Fri 12/11, noon, 17+ Little Green Cars 5/5, 9 PM, Metro, on sale Fri 12/11, 10 AM, 18+ Made of Oak 4/7, 9 PM, Schubas, on sale Fri 12/11, noon Marillion 10/27-28, 8 PM, the Vic, on sale Fri 12/11, 10 AM, 18+ Melanie Martinez 3/17, 7:30 PM, the Vic, on sale Fri 12/11, noon b Megadeth, Suicidal Tendencies 3/13, 7 PM, Aragon Ballroom, on sale Fri 12/11, 10 AM, 17+

54 CHICAGO READER - DECEMBER 10, 2015

Mindset 3/12, 8 PM, Beat Kitchen, 17+ Monterey Jazz Festival on Tour with Raul Midon, Ravi Coltrane, Nicholas Payton, and more 3/13, 5 and 8 PM, City Winery, on sale Thu 12/10, noon b Mount Moriah 3/18, 8 PM, Schubas, on sale Fri 12/11, noon Mountain Goats 4/11-13, 8 PM, City Winery, on sale Thu 12/10, noon b Ra Ra Riot 4/8, 9 PM, Lincoln Hall, on sale Fri 12/11, noon, 18+ Slayer, Testament, Carcass 2/19, 7:30 PM, Riviera Theatre b Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes 3/5, 8 PM, SPACE, Evanston, on sale Sat 12/12, 11 AM b Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band 1/19, 7:30 PM, United Center, on sale Fri 12/11, 10 AM b Livingston Taylor 3/11, 7 PM, SPACE, Evanston, on sale Sat 12/12, 11 AM b Those Darlins 1/27, 9 PM, Empty Bottle, on sale Fri 12/11, 10 AM Too $hort 1/21, 9 PM, Double Door, 18+ Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right B A Start 1/16, 9 PM, Beat Kitchen, 17+ Wavves, Best Coast 2/24, 6:30 PM, Thalia Hall, on sale Fri 12/11, 10 AM b Susan Werner 3/18, 8 PM, SPACE, Evanston, on sale Sat 12/12, 11 AM b

UPDATED Guster 1/29-30, 8 PM, the Vic, 1/30 added, on sale Fri 12/11, 10 AM, 18+

Abbath, High on Fire, Skeletonwitch 4/8, 6:45 PM, Metro, 18+ Babes in Toyland 1/28, 7 PM, Concord Music Hall, 17+ Brave Combo 12/18, 9 PM, FitzGerald’s, Berwyn Leon Bridges 3/11, 7:30 PM, Chicago Theatre b Judy Collins & Ari Hest 2/4-5, 8 PM, City Winery b Color Morale 1/8, 7 PM, Wire, Berwyn b Shawn Colvin 2/19-20, 8 PM, SPACE, Evanston b Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen 2/25, 8 PM, SPACE, Evanston b Dark Star Orchestra 3/3-4, 8 PM, the Vic, 18+ Diarrhea Planet, Jeff the Brotherhood 12/30-31, 9 PM, Lincoln Hall, 12/30 is 18+ Dwele 1/7, 7 and 9:30 PM, City Winery b Fall Out Boy, AWOLNATION 3/12, 7 PM, United Center b Faltydj 1/15, 10 PM, Smart Bar, part of Tomorrow Never Knows Finish Ticket 3/4, 7 PM, Bottom Lounge b Ginuwine 1/30, 9 PM, the Shrine Selena Gomez 6/25, 7:30 PM, United Center b Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals 4/16, 8 PM, Riviera Theatre b Iron Maiden 4/6, 7 PM, United Center b Janet Jackson 6/4, 8 PM, Allstate Arena, Rosemont b Charles Kelley 1/8, 8 PM, House of Blues, 17+ Stephen Kellogg 2/22, 8 PM, SPACE, Evanston b Mac Sabbath 12/31, 8 PM, Reggie’s Rock Club, 18+ Macabre 12/26, 7 PM, Reggie’s Rock Club, 17+ Marianas Trench 2/10, 7 PM, House of Blues b Mass Gothic 2/6, 10 PM, Schubas Kathy Mattea 3/13, 7 PM, Maurer Hall, Old Town School of Folk Music b Delbert McClinton 3/4, 8 PM, City Winery b Del McCoury Band 1/17, 5 PM, City Winery b Metz, Bully 1/16, 9 PM, Metro, part of Tomorrow Never Knows, 18+ Tor Miller 1/28, 9 PM, Schubas Ministry 12/31, 8 PM, Concord Music Hall, 17+ Anna Nalick 1/13, 8 PM, SPACE, Evanston b Napalm Death, Melvins, Melt Banana 4/22, 8 PM, Metro, 18+ Oblivians, Gories 1/1, 9 PM, Empty Bottle Eliades Ochoa y Barbarito Torres 1/30, 8 PM, Maurer Hall, Old Town School of Folk Music 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

Oh, Sleeper 2/19, 7 PM, Wire, Berwyn, 18+ Oh Wonder 1/21, 8:30 PM, Lincoln Hall b Tunde Olaniran 1/9, 9 PM, Empty Bottle Anders Osborne, Amy Helm & the Handsome Strangers 3/4, 8 PM, Thalia Hall, 17+ Craig Owens 12/18, 6 PM, Bottom Lounge b Pears 12/20, 7 PM, Cobra Lounge Savages 4/7, 9 PM, Metro, 18+ Catey Shaw 2/9, 9 PM, Beat Kitchen, 17+ Todd Sheaffer 1/1, 1 PM, City Winery b Shellac, Mono 3/30, 7 PM, Bottom Lounge, 17+ Jake Shimabukuro 2/1-2, 8 PM, City Winery b Sleep 1/26-27, 8 PM, Thalia Hall, 17+ Fay Victor & Tyshawn Sorey 1/23, 8:30 PM, Constellation, 18+ Voivod, Vektor 2/24, 7:30 PM, the Abbey, 17+ Wailers 1/14, 8 PM, House of Blues, 17+ Nick Waterhouse 12/30-1/1, 9 PM, Schubas Emily Wells 3/11, 8:30 PM, Beat Kitchen, 17+ Wet 2/5, 10 PM, Schubas, 18+ Wild Belle 1/15, 9 PM, Metro, part of Tomorrow Never Knows, 18+ Marlon Williams 2/10, 8 PM, Schubas, 18+ Keller Williams, Kwahtro 1/30, 8:30 PM, Park West, 18+ Steven Wilson 3/7-8, 8 PM, the Vic, 18+ Rita Wilson 5/3, 8 PM, City Winery b Wolfmother 2/25, 8:30 PM, Metro, 18+

SOLD OUT Beach House 3/1, 8 PM, the Vic, 18+ Alessia Cara 1/29, 7:30 PM, Metro b Gary Clark Jr. 4/1, 8 PM, Riviera Theatre, 18+ The Cure, Twilight Sad 6/10-11, 7:30 PM, UIC Pavilion b Greg Dulli 3/18, 8 and 11 PM, Maurer Hall, Old Town School of Folk Music b Less Than Jake 3/3-4, 7 PM, Double Door, 17+ Underoath 4/7, 7 PM, Riviera Theatre b Vance Joy 1/22-23, 7:30 PM, Riviera Theatre b

GOSSIP WOLF A furry ear to the ground of the local music scene KINSELLA ALERT! A few weeks back, Gossip Wolf got a copy of the new book from Cap’n Jazz and Joan of Arc front man Tim Kinsella. Unlike his previous efforts, All Over and Over is decidedly nonfictional—published earlier this fall, it’s a diary of the final full U.S. tour of his band Make Believe in 2006. This wolf recommends it to anyone who’s ever felt totally human emotions such as alienation, paranoia, and self-doubt—or who’s ever wondered what it’s like to sit in a van for a few months with Sam Zurick. You can get a copy for your bandmate’s stocking from local publisher Featherproof Books, but the title won’t be sold in stores.

Chicago artist Keith Herzik isn’t just the pencil-and-ink dude behind Gossip Wolf’s furry illustrated face (and a bazillion awesome show posters over the years).

The Galactic Inmate guitarist is also a hella good musician, and a few weeks ago he and his groovy wife, Gina Herzik, released a slew of lo-fi weirdo jams onto the Internets as Wet Wallet. The short tracks, free on Bandcamp, split the difference between new wave and no wave, and they feature plenty of tape hiss, watery bass, and lusty shouts—this wolf particularly likes “Trucker’s Showers,” despite rarely showering with truckers anymore.

Aggro young emo unit Forfeit released a cassette EP in June called Some Things Just Fall Apart, and they’ve got more music coming in the near future.

The members of the band tell this wolf that they just wrapped up a studio session where they recorded five tracks. No word on when the tunes will come out, but here’s hoping Forfeit play some of them when they headline the Burlington on Fri 12/11. The show starts at 9 PM. —J.R. NELSON AND LEOR GALIL Got a tip? Tweet @Gossip_Wolf or e-mail gossipwolf@chicagoreader.com.

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DECEMBER 10, 2015 - CHICAGO READER 55

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Brendan -- -Jake's AND

13th Annual Holiday Show

with Brendan Bayliss & Jake Cinninger from Umphrey's McGee featuring Joel Cummins, Andy Farag, & other special guests Solo piano opening set by Joel Cummins

Saturday, December 12th, 2015 · Park West · Chicago IL · Doors 7pm · Show 8pm This years show will benefit The People's Music School of Chicago

For your chance to win tickets to the sold out show and VIP passes to meet the band courtesy of Coors Light go to one of these locations on Friday, December 11

FRIDAY, MAY 13 8:00pm • 18 & Over

RIVIERA THEATRE

Third Rail Tavern Hubbard Inn Side Street Saloon

ON SALE THIS FRIDAY AT 10AM! BUY TICKETS AT

56 CHICAGO READER - DECEMBER 10, 2015

133 W Madison St. - 4-6pm

$4 Coors Light Drafts

1-800-514--ETIX or online at etix.com

110 W. Hubbard - 5-7pm

$4 Coors Light Bottles

1456 W George St - 9-11pm

$3.50 Coors Light Bottles