In Between Trains: Music for Union Station
There’s something special about hearing music in a public setting when it is free and unexpected. And when it is held in a train station, especially so. It’s one thing […]
June Sawyers has published more than 25 books. Her work has appeared in the Chicago Tribune, New City, San Francisco Chronicle, and Stagebill. She teaches at the Newberry Library and is the founder of the arts group, the Phantom Collective.
Review: Court Theatre Stages a Masterful Adaptation of Jason Lutes’ Berlin
Jason Lutes took some 20 years to complete his graphic novel, Berlin. Condensing Lutes’ 550-page magnum opus into theatrical language is no easy feat but Court Theatre has brought it […]
Review: Sunny Afternoon at Chicago Shakes Is a Rock and Roll Fantasy
They were the most English of British Invasion bands. While other English musicians adopted American styles and turned their backs on their own musical traditions, the Kinks doubled down, writing […]
Review: Circus Quixote at Lookingglass Theatre Retells the Classic Knight’s Tale With Heart and Magic
After much too long a pause, Lookingglass is back. And with style. Circus Quixote, Lookingglass Theatre’s adaptation of Miguel de Cervantes’ classic novel, Don Quijote of La Mancha, is a […]
Review: The Harder I Fight the More I Love You: A Memoir, by Neko Case
Before a full house at the Fine Arts Building’s Studebaker Theater, singer-songwriter Neko Case appeared on stage in conversation with Lior Phillips, a Chicago-based South African music journalist. Case received […]
Glögg and Carols at Simon’s Tavern
They come every year around this time, gathering at the long bar or huddling around the worn wooden tables. Many stand in the middle of the floor shoulder to shoulder […]
Review: Andrew Bird’s Gezelligheid Concert Is a Treat for the Soul
The forceful cheeriness of the holiday season is now upon us but it is not for everyone. Not all Christmas songs are about comfort and joy. Singer, songwriter, violinist, sometime […]
Review: Malört—Chicago History in a Bottle
He had been warned. At a recent house concert in Printers Row, Pat Byrne, a soulful Irish troubadour based in Texas, bravely took a swig of the yellow liquid, scrunched […]
Review: DePaul Art Museum Exhibit Celebrates the Work of Edgar Miller, Renaissance Man
Edgar Miller has been called the forgotten man of Chicago art. But with the new exhibit Edgar Miller Anti-Modern, 1917–1967 at the DePaul Museum of Art in Lincoln Park, he […]
On the Road: Letter from New York—Culture Hopping in the City of Islands
“I’m in a New York state of mind”–Billy Joel New York is a city of islands or near-islands. In all, there are more than three dozen of them, inhabited and […]
Last Call on Southport: Running the Literary Gauntlet of Independent Bookstore Day
We were fast running out of time. At one point, we didn’t think even we would make it. It was our first time joining the annual Independent Bookstore Day’s Chicagoland […]
Talk of the Town: An Eclipse Poem
Everyone looked up On Michigan AvenueOn balconies and rooftopsBy the AdlerWe all looked up. We all felt giddyGrateful even for this momentPeople waved their solar glasses at each otherAs if we […]