I could hear the clickety-clack of his typewriter a block away. It was quiet around the Union Stock Yards Gate with only an occasional car or truck passing. And as I stood across the street, at the corner of Peoria…
Abandoned Chicagoland: Rust on the Prairies By Jerry Olejniczak Arcadia Publishing I’ve always been drawn to—and repelled by—demolition sites. Crumbling walls, shattered by a wrecking ball and revealing shards of past lives and lost work. And if it’s a building…
Mellencamp By Paul Rees Atria Books/Simon & Schuster Release date September 14, 2021 The first music he loved was Motown soul music that he listened to on AM radio stations from Detroit, Chicago, and Louisville. The first record he bought…
Chicago now has a set of historical landmark markers arrayed all over the city that pay tribute to the spaces, places and people in the grand history of music in Chicago. The first five markers are placed now to celebrate…
The nighttime streets are dark and shadowy, elegant in rubble and 19th century buildings. Cobblestones glisten in the light from street lamps. Carol Reed’s 1949 film, The Third Man, shows us a visually stunning Vienna, a masterpiece of the noir…
Ema, a film by Chilean director Pablo Larrain, is the story of an unhappy family set to the pulsing, percussive beat of reggaeton music and images of fire. But its color and sound and the fiery performance of the title…
Theater and architecture share a creative bond in this edition of Steppenwolf Theatre’s Half Hour podcast series. The podcast features Gordon Gill, the architect for Steppenwolf’s new Arts and Education Center, in conversation with ensemble member James Vincent Meredith. The…
Trap Door Theatre’s new production, And Away We Stared, is an example of “devised theater,” a mode of expression that’s been popular in the theater community for years. It‘s a process that starts without a formal script and involves collaboration…
Chicago playwright J. Nicole Brooks has won the 2021 Harold and Mimi Steinberg / American Theatre Critics Association New Play Award for the play Her Honor, Jane Byrne. The Steinberg/ATCA Award, which carries a $25,000 cash prize, recognizes an outstanding script that premiered…
I Hate It Here: Stories From the End of the Old World is a play performed live and written as a concept album by Chicago’s Ike Holter with snappy direction by Lili-Anne Brown. It’s loud, rowdy and satisfying. Even though…
When I was asked to review a documentary titled The Boys in Red Hats, my first thought was of that image that went viral in January 2019: a teenaged boy in a red MAGA hat, smirking at a drumming Native…
Chicago is known for its public art and you usually find it in high-traffic areas like Michigan Avenue or on Loop office building plazas. But this summer, we suggest you take a detour to the Greektown neighborhood on Halsted Street,…
How can you not love a story of young romance set in a candy-colored beach town in Le Treport, Normandy? All the ingredients are there. Gorgeous scenery. Two beautiful young men and a charming young woman. But there are ingredients…
Author Suzanne Alexander’s life is haunted by her past. With Jacqueline Williams playing Suzanne in this 1992 Adrienne Kennedy play, we get a glimpse of campus life in mid-century America and the changes that have come about since. Not enough…
Our fundraising drive to support Chicago’s local independent media is about to end. After a three-day extension, the drive ends at midnight (actually 11:5pm) tonight, June 14. You can donate at SaveChicagoMedia.org. Thanks to support from local Feinberg, McCormick and…
Dear supporters of independent media, Our fundraising drive to support Chicago’s local independent media has been extended for three more days! You now can donate until midnight Monday, June 14, at SaveChicagoMedia.org. Thanks to support from local Feinberg, McCormick…
The Chicago Humanities Festival continued its Chicago Neighborhood Series with a panel of three journalists from Chicago’s community media, mainly focusing on the south side. The panel was moderated by Bettina Chang, cofounder and editorial director at City Bureau, a…
It’s triple match time, starting today and running through 11:59pm on Friday, June 11. There are only three days left in our second annual fundraiser for the Chicago Independent Media Alliance (CIMA). Thanks to a generous matching grant from the…
Dear readers and friends of indie media: We are only four days away from the deadline for the 2021 Chicago Independent Media Alliance #SaveChicagoMedia fundraiser. Our goal for this year’s campaign is $50,000, and as of this morning we’ve raised…
Is existential comedy a thing? If it is, then Monuments, a new film by Chicago-based filmmaker Jack C. Newell (Open Tables, 42 Grams), fits in that category—or maybe it’s just a road movie. Ted Daniels (David Sullivan, Primer, “Sharp Objects”)…
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