England was more advanced than the U.S. in abolishing slavery. The UK passed the Slavery Abolition Act in 1833 but England had abolished it decades earlier. But that doesn’t mean […]
A Tuesday night at the Vic Theatre, not quite packed, but close enough, and Christine and the Queens is beginning its conquest of the United States with this Chicago stop, and with […]
Nearly 400 enthusiastic admirers enjoyed day one of the Ear Taxi Festival (ETF) showcasing Chicago’s rich contemporary classical music scene. Wednesday’s excellent concerts were the first of six days devoted […]
Anyone who really knows me would be a little surprised by the “love songs” theme I chose for this week. I’ve always taken on the role of love cynic/critic/firm believer […]
It’s the scariest month of the year, where everything seems a little more sinister. The ghouls are coming out and doing everything they can to take you away. Why yes, […]
Seemingly out of nowhere, this week Kit Kat teased in a tweet that Chance the Rapper would be the star of their new Halloween television commercial. Yesterday, they made good […]
Fishhead. Republic of Want is an experimental novel by Ignatius Valentine Aloysius. It’s a layered metafictional work in the style of Cervantes and Borges, where Fate (Destiny) is the story’s overarching narrator, […]
On the surface, Visiting Edna, the new David Rabe play at Steppenwolf Theatre, is a story of aging Edna, beset by diabetes, arthritis, congestive heart failure and cancer. Plus she’s […]
Lose yourself in a tunnel of electronic and hip hop music this Halloween at Freaky Deaky , with a pair of free tickets to the “Largest Halloween Event in the Midwest!” […]
My eyes opened very slowly when my alarm went off at 4:45 a.m. on Wednesday morning. Awakening in a haze, I pondered, do I REALLY want to do this? My bag was […]
Hand to God, after multiple awards, two off-Broadway productions, and a production on Broadway to rave reviews, has become one of the nation’s most produced plays this theater season. Robert Askin’s […]
If you would have told me I would get to interview a really notable pop band in a hotel suite, I probably would scoff at you. But I did get […]
