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09 Feb ' 07:15
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09 Feb ' 01:37
Broads on Boards
4/9: Thu 8 PM 847-251-7424Lauren Dowden and Amanda Blake Davis star in this Annoyance Theatre production. $15
Wilmette 1122 Central Ave.Other Suburbs North 847-251-7411Get Physical
Thu 2/9, 9:30 PMOther StuffThe theme of this month's Get Physical dance party by DJs the Fabulous Ladies of Fitness is "love is a battlefield." They'll be spinning "songs of tragedy, love lost, and triumph over heartbreak." Joey Jachowski and Julia Thiel
Cole's 2338 N. Milwaukee Ave.Logan Square 773-276-5802"Death as an Occasion for Wonder: Nonmorbid Occasions for Talking About Morality"
Thu., Feb. 9, 6 p.m.Conversation with University of Chicago divinity school professor emeritus Martin E. Marty and Interfaith Youth Core founder Eboo Patel. In conjunction with the exhibit "Morbid Curiosity." Reservations recommended.
Jennifer Ratner-Rosenhagen
Thu., Feb. 9, 6 p.m. 312-255-3700Historian Ratner-RosenhagenAmerican Nietzsche: A History of an Icon and His Ideas
Newberry Library 60 W. Walton St.Old Town 312-255-3700Scale the Summit, Elitist, Centaurus, Burn the Remains
Thu., Feb. 9, 6 p.m.
Scale the Summit got it right when they decided to forgo vocals. Lots of instrumental metal or postrock bands eventually experiment with singing, but I don't even want to imagine this Houston prog outfit with a front man—I just know it'd add nothing but overblown pomp to their already heady songs, like the vocals in old-school Dream Theater and, dare I say it, Coheed & Cambria. Last year's The Collective (Prosthetic) is half metal and half atmospheric prog, full of seven- and eight-string guitar lines and seriously skilled six-string bass moves (though you'll have to deal with some slapping). Of course, you'd better know what you're doing when you start fiddling around with mutant, extra-level Guitar World instruments, and Scale the Summit definitely do. The album's standout cut, "Gallows," starts off with double-kick-drum head-banging heaviness, then morphs into a lovely, epic jam that could soundtrack any one of the scenes from The Neverending Story where Atreyu is riding high on Falcor's back. Who needs vocals when you've got that? —Kevin WarwickElitist, Centaurus, and Burn the Remains open.$12, $10 in advanceReggie's Rock Club 2109 S. State St.Near South Side 312-949-0121Joyce Selander
Thu., Feb. 9, 6 p.m.Selander signs her memoir, Joyce, Queen of the Mountain: Female Courage and Hand-To-Hand Combat in the World'S Largest Money Pit
Barnes & Noble, DePaul Center 1 E. Jackson Blvd. 312-362-8792The World Beyond the Headlines
Thu., Feb. 9, 6-7:30 p.m. 773-702-7721Talk by journalist Hal Weitzman (Latin Lessons: How South America Stopped Listening to the United States and Started Prospering
Martha Bayne
Thu., Feb. 9, 7 p.m.
Not to be confused with the first Soup & Bread Cookbookeven though it shares its name, author, illustrator, and even a few recipes (most are new)Martha Bayne's new book is a reflection on the cultural importance of soup as much as a cookbook. Each section begins with an essay: soup as a political statement, for example, or as performance art, or, of course, as a way to build community. Soup & Bread, the ongoing event at the Hideout that brought forth the recipes collected in this book (and the previous cookbook), is a particularly good illustration of soup as a means of bringing people together. Bayne (a former Reader editor) started the event in January of 2009 to alleviate the boredom of her lonely Wednesday-evening bartending shift, recruiting several volunteers each week to cook soup and giving the profits (from donations by attendees) to a rotating roster of nonprofits like food pantries and hunger relief agencies. To say that it caught on would be an understatement: nearly every time I've gone, the back room of the Hideout has been packed with people jostling good-naturedly for soup prepared by both professional chefs and dedicated amateurs, trying to avoid stepping on the children scurrying underfoot. The book reflects the almost palpable enthusiasm for soup that can be felt at the events, from Bayne's informative essays to Paul Dolan's charming illustrations to the recipes themselves, which preserve the writers' individual voices. From the instructions for Tuscan bread soup: "Stir. A lot. The bread will burn on the bottom if you're not careful and your soup will be bitter and the children will cry and it'll be terrible. So stir." Julia ThielQuimby's Bookstore 1854 W. North Ave. 773-342-0910Jennifer Olvera
Thu., Feb. 9, 7 p.m.Olvera presents Food Lovers' Guide to Chicago: Best Local Specialties, Markets, Recipes, Restaurants & Events
Oak Park Public Library 834 Lake St.Oak Park/River Forest 708-383-8200"Religion, Democracy, and Civic Engagement"
Thu., Feb. 9, 7 p.m. 630- 617-3390LecturesTalk by political scientist Robert D. Putnam (American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us).
Hammerschmidt Memorial Chapel, Elmhurst College 190 Prospect Ave.Other Suburbs West 630-617-3135Girlyman, Edie Carey
Thu., Feb. 9, 7:30 p.m.Rock, Pop, EtcOld Town School of Folk Music, Maurer Hall 4544 N. Lincoln Ave.
773-728-6000Miri Ben-Ari, Lying Delilah
Thu., Feb. 9, 8 p.m.Rock, Pop, Etc -
08 Feb ' 13:39
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08 Feb ' 03:25
Meet Your Chicago Distillers Night
Wed 2/8, 7 PMDrink EventsDown a few local spirits at Meet Your Chicago Distillers Night, which features samples from Koval, Few Spirits, North Shore, and Journeyman Distillery.
$10Jerry's 1938 W. Division St.Wicker Park/Bucktown 773-235-1006The Romance of Dance
Wed 2/8, 7 PM 312-742-8497DanceNancy Hays performs a cabaret show on the history of dance since the late 1800s. $25
Maxim's 24 E. Goethe St.Gold Coast/Mag Mile/Streeterville 312-742-1748Chicago Architecture Foundation Lunchtime Lecture
Wed., Feb. 8, 12:15 p.m.Author Leslie Goddard talks about Remembering Marshall Field's
Chicago Architecture Foundation 224 S. Michigan Ave. 312-922-3432"Egypt After Tahrir Square"
Wed., Feb. 8, 6 p.m. 773-753-2274Talk by author Ashraf Khalil (Liberation Square: Inside the Egyptian Revolution and the Rebirth of a Nation).
International House, University of Chicago 1414 E. 59th St. 773-753-2270Global Voices Author Night
Wed., Feb. 8, 6 p.m.Journalist Ashraf Khalil discusses Liberation Square: Inside the Egyptian Revolution and the Rebirth of a Nation
International House, University of Chicago 1414 E. 59th St. 773-753-2270Reading Change
Wed., Feb. 8, 6-8 p.m. 773-227-7676Editor John D'Emilio sits in on a discussion of Allan Berube's book My Desire for History: Essays in Gay, Community, and Labor History. A Crossroads Fund program.
Center on Halsted 3656 N. Halsted St.Wrigleyville 773-472-6469So Many Ways to Tell a Story
Wed., Feb. 8, 6 p.m.Spoken Word/Poetry Slams/Open MikesAfter the audience workshops, Oba William King and Justin Roberts tell the stories they create. $8-$10
Chicago Children's Museum 700 E. Grand Ave.Other Central 312-527-1000Chuck Calderon
Wed., Feb. 8, 7-9 p.m.Calderon signs his self-published novel An Act of Love for All
Centuries & Sleuths Bookstore 7419 W. Madison St.Forest Park 708-771-7243Mahmoud Saeed
Wed., Feb. 8, 7 p.m.Saeed discusses his novel The World Through the Eyes of Angels; he'll be joined by translator Allen Salter.
Book Cellar 4736 N. Lincoln Ave.Ravenswood 773-293-2665The Color Purple
Wed., Feb. 8, 7:30 p.m.Theater & PerformanceThe national tour stops in at University Park. $15-$65
Center for Performing Arts, Governors State University 1 University Pkwy.Suburbs South 708-235-2222Sebastian Bach, Hessler
Wed., Feb. 8, 8 p.m.
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07 Feb ' 13:11
It was a pretty good 2011 for Nic Warnock and R.I.P Society Records. The upstart Sydney-based garage label not only dropped a truly great LP of lo-fi power-poppy trash from Royal Headache, but several of its artists—including Royal Headache, Dead Farmers, Kitchen's Floor, and Warnock's own band Bed Wettin' Bad Boys—toured the States to help spread the gospel of the burgeoning Aussie underground. And this year is starting off just as strong: quirky Melbourne trio Woollen Kits, who recently released their self-titled debut, are traveling the country sharing their bare-bones mix of Beat Happening indie rock and Modern Lovers protopunk. Though guitarist Thomas Hardisty does most of the singing, in a baritone that sounds an awful lot like Calvin Johnson's, sometimes the band changes its tune from bummed, deadpan love songs to poppier, sneering love songs, for which drummer Tom Ridgewell takes over on the mike—he fronts the standout "Out of Whack," for instance. The band wasn't so democratic about vocals on previous EPs, and the change serves it well, giving its dirty, echoing jangle a dynamic that makes Woollen Kits' page worth dog-earing in the ever-growing R.I.P catalog. —Kevin WarwickSee also Wednesday
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07 Feb ' 02:15
Copyright Basics
Tue 2/7, 7 PMOther StuffLogan Square stalwarts Saki and I Am Logan Square join forces for Copyright Basics, an overview of copyright laws with IALS director Cara Dehnert Huffman and a local entertainment-law specialist.
Saki 3716 W. FullertonLogan Square 773-486-3997"Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention"
Tue., Feb. 7, 4 p.m. 630-617-3390Editor Wendy Wolf discusses the late Manning Marable's book Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention.
Elmhurst College Frick Center Founders Lounge 150 College Hill Ave.Other Suburbs West 630-279-1009Joe Sacco
Tue., Feb. 7, 4:30 p.m. 773-834-8524Sacco discusses his latest graphic novel, Footnotes in Gaza.
University of Chicago, Rosenwald Hall 1101 E. 58th St.Hyde ParkPermanent Records 1914 W. Chicago Ave.Ukrainian Village/East Village 773-278-1744Jake Austen
Tue., Feb. 7, 6 p.m.Literary Events
Austen (Roctober magazine) presents Flying Saucers Rock 'n' Roll: Conversations With Unjustly Obscure Rock 'n' Soul Eccentrics.
57th Street Books 1301 E. 57th St.Hyde Park 773-684-1300Anne Ford
Tue., Feb. 7, 6 p.m.Literary Events
For the Reader's Chicagoans column, writer Anne Ford switches into oral-historian mode, seeking out interesting characters and letting us hear from them directly. She goes further off the beaten path for her new book Peaceful Places Chicago: 119 Tranquil Sites in the Windy City and Beyond, which she'll read from tonight. Sam Worley
Barnes & Noble, DePaul Center 1 E. Jackson Blvd. 312-362-8792Margaret Overton
Tue., Feb. 7, 6 p.m.Literary EventsOverton reads from her memoir, Good in a Crisis.
Unabridged Bookstore 3251 N. Broadway 773-883-9119"Sustainable Food and Design"
Tue., Feb. 7, 6 p.m. 312-867-7254LecturesChicago State University Aquaponics Center director Emmanuel Pratt lectures for this Archeworks series. RSVP requested. $5 suggested donation, $5 seniors and students
Jeff Mangum; Andrew Rieger, Laura Carter, and Scott Spillane
Tue., Feb. 7, 7 p.m.
Like the Velvet Underground before them, defunct Georgia indie-rock band Neutral Milk Hotel released a handful of albums that had a very small, localized impact upon their initial release but which have since gone on to provide a stylistic and vaguely philosophical blueprint for an untold number of groups around the world. The albums—especially 1998's In the Aeroplane Over the Sea—have influenced the masses threefold. Sonically they've inspired a kitchen-sink approach to instrumentation, no doubt including more than a few actual kitchen sinks; thematically, a slightly skewed, childlike optimism; and sartorially, any number of attempts at looking like an old-fashioned workman. Devotees taking these things to an annoying extreme have become a constant presence in the indie world, a testament to the power of the original music, which was unlike anything anyone else was doing at the time and remains as stirring and gorgeous as ever. Reclusive former NMH leader Jeff Mangum went off the grid following Aeroplane's release, and this is one of his first forays into public performance since then—in some corners the anticipation surrounding his reappearance is downright messianic. —Miles RaymerAndrew Rieger, Laura Carter, and Scott Spillane open.Athenaeum Theatre 2936 N. Southport Ave. 773-935-6860Conversations in the Arts
Tue., Feb. 7, 7:30 p.m.LecturesWriter-activist Gloria Steinem is the guest speaker for this Columbia College series. Event is full.
Film Row Cinema, Columbia College 1104 S. Wabash Ave., eighth floor 312-369-6815Tuesday Funk
Tue., Feb. 7, 7:30 p.m.Literary Events"Where good writing and good beer mix." The featured readers at this edition are Julia Borcherts, Lillian Huang Cummins, Lauryn Allison Lewis, Dustin Monk, and Margie Skelly. 21+.
Wit Rabbit Reading Series
Tue., Feb. 7, 7:30-9 p.m.Literary EventsJen Moore, Laura Goldstein, and Gus Rose are the featured readers at this outing. 21+.
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06 Feb ' 15:37
Clarinet and bassoon.
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06 Feb ' 02:27
Ultra Sexy, Ultra Cool
Mon 2/6, 8 PMBacked by pianist Jeremy Kahn and bassist Jim Cox, KT McCammond headlines "Ultra Sexy, Ultra Cool," the inaugural installment in the Jazz Showcase's monthly series Sophisticated Ladies. Joey Jachowski and Sam Worley
$10-$25Jazz Showcase 806 S. Plymouth Ct.South Loop 312-360-0234Francis Poulenc & Roberta Sierra
Mon., Feb. 6, 12:15 p.m.Clarient and bassoon.
Preston Bradley Hall, Chicago Cultural Center 78 E. Washington St.Loop 312-744-6630Hilda
Mon., Feb. 6, 5 p.m.A staged reading of Marie Ndiaye's drama.
Schmitt Academic Center DePaul University, 2320 N. Kenmore Ave.DePaulColumbia College Nonfiction Readings
Mon., Feb. 6, 5:30 p.m.Faculty members Joshua Casteel (Letters From Abu Ghraib) and Jenny Boully (The Book of Beginnings and Endings) read their work.
Stage Two, Columbia College 618 S. Michigan, second floorSouth Loop"Architecture Works"
Mon., Feb. 6, 6:30 p.m.LecturesTalk by Studio Sumo designer Yolande Daniels. Sponsored by Chicago Women in Architecture and the Architecture & Design Society. RSVP requested via rsvp@cwarch.org.
Symphony Center 220 S. Michigan Ave.Loop 312-294-3000Robbie Fulks
Mon., Feb. 6, 7 p.m.Folk & CountryHideout 1354 W. Wabansia Ave. 773-227-4433After That, Later, Then
Mon., Feb. 6, 7:30 p.m.DanceTif Bullard's abstract performance of a year of medical and spiritual problems. $5
Links Hall 3435 N. SheffieldLakeview 773-281-0824Chicago Barn Dance Company
Mon., Feb. 6, 8 p.m.Folk & CountryBarn dance featuring Cosmic Otters with caller Lisa Ornstein.
Epiphany United Church of Christ 2008 W. Bradley Pl.Roscoe Village 773-281-4144Deleted Scenes, Hudson Branch
Mon., Feb. 6, 8 p.m.
Subterranean 2011 W. North Ave. 773-278-6600Julie Frost, Champlin & Menard
Mon., Feb. 6, 8 p.m.Stolen Silver, Julie Mackler, Ami Saraiya
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05 Feb ' 04:55
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05 Feb ' 00:37
Mexicans, Jews, and Muppets
Through 2/4: Fri-Sat 8 PM, also 2/11, 8 PMImprov/SketchA topical sketch show by Butch LaRue. $15
When the Body Speaks
Through 2/5:GalleriesMarci Rubin cuts open a piece of fruit, applies ink to the exposed flesh, presses it to paper, and creates an image of another cellular being, another body. Made with the assistance of a tomato, Uterus looks like a Rorschach version of the real thingorangish, with fallopian-tube-like streaks branching off from either side of the core. There are seeds stuck to the paper; a concentration of them at what would be the cervix. Rubin also works with apples, kiwis, and oranges. The 26 pieces in this new show, "When the Body Speaks," are inspired by "being a body," Rubin says. Her sculptures are as anatomical as her prints. Pudenda, made of recycled women's clothing, comprises swooping, soft, brown and tan fabrics. Episiotomy (i.e., a surgical incision made to widen the vaginal opening during childbirth) features dramatic reds and pinks and a ragged scrap of cloth hanging from the bottom. Those pieces are mounted on walls, but an installation called Adipose Field after adipose tissue, or body fat, is a riot of pink little balls of nylon stuffed with cotton batting and clustered together on the floor like so many bald tribbles. The human form, says Rubin, can be "beautiful and grotesque at the same time." Sam Worley
Dittmar Gallery 1999 Campus Dr.Evanston 847-491-2348Empty Bottle End Zone
Sun 2/5, whenever football happensOther StuffI know approximately dick about sports, but I've gathered that today is the Super Bowl and that some team, battling it out with some team, is vying for a prize. Is it a big bowl? Tune in to find out! Clearly you don't need me to tell you the details, but you might be interested in learning about a viewing party at the Empty Bottle, where there will be comfortable seating, beer, snacks from Bite Cafe, and a halftime performance by the band Football.
Empty Bottle 1035 N. Western Ave.Ukrainian Village/East Village 773-276-3600The Semi-Conscious Memoirs of a Negligent Native
Fri 2/5, 7 PMKohl Miner performs a series of monologues about life and men. Part of Rhinofest. $12-$15, or pay what you can
Uncanny Terrain
Sun 2/5, 5-8 PMOther Stuff
Along with Junko Kajino, occasional Reader contributor Ed M. Koziarski is codirector of Uncanny Terrain, a documentary about effects from last year's tsunami and nuclear crisis on Japan's rice farmers. This preview screening event includes music by Tatsu Aoki and his band the Miyumi Project, and David Tanimura shows digital collages about the nuclear threat. RSVP required; e-mail uncannyterrain@gmail.com
donations accepted.High Concept Laboratories 1401 W. Wabansia Ave. info@highconceptlaboratories.orgFullerton Hall, Art Institute of Chicago 312-443-3600William Landay
Sun., Feb. 5, 2 p.m.Landay signs his latest suspense novel, Defending Jacob.
Barnes & Noble 55 Old Orchard CenterSkokie 847-676-2230Mac Blackout Band, Death Cat, Lancet Flukke
Sun., Feb. 5, 3 p.m.In-StoresFavorite Records 1535 W. DivisionGeorge Lewis & Friends
Sun., Feb. 5, 3 p.m.Jazz
The world of classical music has long been reluctant to take composers from the jazz world seriously. There have been isolated exceptions—in 1972 the London Symphony Orchestra performed Ornette Coleman's Skies of America—but more often than not, folks like Anthony Braxton and Anthony Davis have had to rely on their own resources to stage large-scale works. (Braxton has occasionally used student ensembles.) In some ways this has probably been for the best, because jazz composers often write music that requires improvisational skill to perform—an area where institutional orchestras usually fall short. Lately, though, the lines between the jazz and classical communities have been dissolving rapidly—and few people have done as much to erase them as Chicago native George Lewis, one of the world's greatest jazz trombonists and increasingly one of its most interesting composers. He released three major works on last year's Les Exercices Spirituels (Tzadik), and though two are fully notated, with no improvisation to speak of, the music is hardly conventional: "Ikons" was adapted from a sound installation where human movement triggered computer-housed sounds, and "Hello Mary Lou," performed on the album by young, progressive New York ensemble Wet Ink, collides chamber music with Lewis's live electronic processing. This afternoon's dazzling program by International Contemporary Ensemble—a group with the knowledge and chops to deal with Lewis's music—includes two Lewis pieces as well as world premieres of compositions by flutist Nicole Mitchell and percussionist Tyshawn Sorey and the Chicago premiere of a piece by reedist Steve Lehman. All the composers will attend, and all but Lewis will also perform. —Peter Margasak$22-$28Museum of Contemporary Art 220 E. Chicago Ave.Gold Coast/Mag Mile/Streeterville 312-280-2660Football
Sun., Feb. 5, 4 p.m.Empty Bottle 1035 N. Western Ave.Ukrainian Village/East Village 773-276-3600Guy Davis
Sun., Feb. 5, 8 p.m.Blues, Gospel, and R&BLil Tits, Two Houses, Big Sur, Ajlec
Sun., Feb. 5, 9 p.m.Township 2200 N. CaliforniaLogan Square 773-772-7811Panoramic & True, Matt Jones & the Reconstruction
Sun., Feb. 5, 9 p.m.Rock, Pop, EtcThe Whistler 2421 N. Milwaukee Ave.Logan Square 773-227-3530
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