New Year, New Round of Bandcamp Fridays!
At the end of January, Bandcamp announced their 2023 plans for their series of fee-free first Fridays of the year! This initially was a short term way to help bands […]
Review: With Clunky, Heavy-Handed Tension, Knock at the Cabin Is Another Miss from M. Night Shyamalan
Filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan (The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable) has been struggling a bit on the creative front of late. Although his 2015 film The Visit was a hoot, what he […]
Your Chicago Curated Weekend: 2/2 and Beyond
We’re already into a new month of 2023 and the events have been superb! So let’s keep that going with another great weekend of concerts, movies, and more! While it […]
Review: Wuthering Heights at Chicago Shakes Deftly Adapts Brontë’s Dense Novel with Innovation, Palpable Passion
Since its publication in 1847, Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights has been adapted into numerous film versions, but only a few brave souls have tried to wrangle her complicated, multi-generational story […]
Review: Pamela Anderson Documentary Balances A Public Figure’s Appeal With a Woman’s Traumas, Fears and Dreams
Documentary filmmaker Ryan White has a true gift for not only telling heartfelt stories about people that the world has reduced to pop-culture figures (Good Ol’ Freda, Serena, Ask Dr. […]
Review: At Porchlight, an Entertaining Cabaret Features Plenty of Talent but Not the Seriousness the Show Requires
Every season on Broadway, new American musicals premiere in the hopes of entering the country’s long and storied canon of productions that can be revisited and revived for decades to […]
Dispatch: Puppet Fest Wraps Up With Shows Garish, Gorgeous and Grand Guignol
Chicago’s 5th annual International Puppet Theater Festival wrapped up this weekend after presenting more than 100 puppet productions and events around the city. The final production was an inventive staging […]
Interview: Filmmaker Jason Eisener on Kids vs. Aliens, Alien Creature Design and All That Slime
In 2007, writer/director/editor Jason Eisener won a contest for directing the best grindhouse trailer for the Robert Rodriguez/Quentin Tarantino collaboration Grindhouse. The trailer was for a fake film called Hobo […]
Review: Squirrel Flower Was So Good at Sleeping Village, It Hurt My Feelings
Guest review by Lorenzo Zenitsky. My first Squirrel Flower concert and my first time at Sleeping Village were a tandem success story for the ages, and by ages, I mean […]
Review: Thee Sacred Souls Return to Thalia Hall with an Amazing Night of Soulful Songs
Thee Sacred Souls are no strangers to Chicago, especially Thalia Hall. Having played local venues quite a bit last year including the Thalia Hall Block Party, Thee Sacred Souls feel […]
Review: At Goodman Theatre, the ripple, the wave that carried me home Dramatizes Racial Injustice Through Swimming Pool Segregation
“Water is a complicated element. It heals, destroys, rescues, erases. It drowns. It saves. It holds memory. It washes away pain….” That statement by Janice, the narrator in the ripple, […]
Review: Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel Is a Feast for the Senses at Lyric Opera
What do you get when you mix Englebert Humperdinck, a visual homage to German expressionism, Weimar decadence, and gorgeous singing? The answer is Hansel and Gretel at the Lyric Opera. […]