Taste the Five Best Kimchi Fries in Chicago
Kimchi is a traditional Korean food made of vegetables (usually Napa cabbage, cucumber or radish) fermented with a variety of spices (ginger, horseradish, garlic and chili peppers number among them). […]
Stuart Dybek Reads Poetry Amongst the Art
If Rahm Emanuel solved all his critical problems and had time to think about something really important, he might decide Chicago needs a poet laureate. If so, there would […]
In The Heat of the Night by Shattered Globe: Both Timely and Timeless
In Matt Pelfrey’s adaptation of the famous John Ball novel, In the Heat of the Night, starring Manny Buckley and Joseph Wiens as the antagonists, and directed by Louis Contey, appearances and […]
Interview with Elizabeth Gomez: Retired Derby Queen, Storyteller and Comedian
On the morning of April 24, a Gmail notification appeared on my phone: “One new message from Juanna Rumbel.” Juanna Rumbel is the derby name of writer, storyteller, and stand-up comedian, […]
Step One: Go see Mercury Theater’s The Producers. Step Two: Thank me!
It’s difficult to pinpoint my favorite part of Mercury Theater’s production of The Producers. From a pitch perfect portrayal of a flamboyant Hitler complete with a bedazzled swastika, to the […]
Hot Dog Chicago: Ketchup, Maxwell Street, Yellow Signage and Democracy
Guest author Bill Savage teaches Chicago literature and history at Northwestern University and the Newberry Library of Chicago. His scholarship and research focus on Nelson Algren, but also extend to […]
A Number Really Does One on Us @ Royal George
On the surface, playwright Caryl Churchill has written a timely play about a controversial topic, cloning. But underneath that, there is a deep dive into more timeless concerns, such as what […]
The Artemis Quartet Perseveres After Tragedy
The Berlin-based Artemis Quartet offered a program of sunshine and suspense to kick off its North American tour at the University of Chicago’s Mandel Hall on Friday. Following the tragic […]
Re-Joyce in The Plagiarists’ Ulysses
On the surface, Ulysses follows a day in the life of two Dubliners, Leopold Bloom and Stephen Daedalus, but truly covers the entire range of human experience: life, love, grief, […]
The Hypocrites’ Adding Machine Anything But Mediocre
Amidst a cloud of haze and the repeated plunking of a piano key, a nondescript man hunches over his desk, writing feverishly. By the time everyone has found their seats, the monotonous […]
Bottom Lounge Goes Nuts For CHON
I’ve never been quite sure how to characterize CHON‘s music. Is it instrumental metal with jazz and classical tendencies? Is it lounge music played on electric guitars, backed by ferocious […]
The Chicago Review of Terrible Books: Kill the Clown
When I looked at the gathering again, almost all of the heads were turned toward me. Nearly two hundred pairs of eyes stared at me. The band stopped playing suddenly. […]