Sunday, June 3, 2012
Do This The Reader's Agenda: Sun 6/3
Posted by Drew Hunt on 06.03.12 at 06:52 AM
- Shervin Lainez
- The Antlers play Do-Division
The final day of Do-Division ends with some notable musical performances.
Chicago's brightest young classical musicians play a final local show before shipping off for a June tour in Spain.
The Eastside Millennium Art Festival gives you a reason to visit the Bean that doesn't have to do with visiting relatives.
For more on these events and others, check out the Reader's daily Agenda page.
Friday, June 1, 2012
12 O'Clock Track Music 12 O'Clock Track: Gull, "Fast Enough"
Posted by Leor Galil on 06.01.12 at 12:00 PM
Theater Arts From brutal Beckett to oafish Ionesco: new Reader performing arts reviews
Posted by Rebecca Cohen on 06.01.12 at 09:39 AM
- Tom McGrath
- Trying out one of 3,628,800 possible outcomes in Bombs, Babes, and Bingo
(Re)Discover Theatre turns audience discomfort into a virtue in An Evening of Beckett: Play, Not I, What Where, writes Jack Helbig. Ushers who test your hearing, inspect your cell phone, and curtly order you to your seat set the tone for the three plays that follow. The trio evoke Beckett's brutish ethos as they confront the horror of life. Existential despair is funnier but no less skillfully conveyed in Organic Theater's adaptation of the Melville story Bartleby the Scrivener. Organic's slapsticky portrayal of a dysfunctional law office captures both the humor and the hopelessness of Bartleby's stock phrase, "I would prefer not to."
You don't have to "get" Trap Door Theatre's Anger/Fly to appreciate it, says Tony Adler. The plotline about a perfect town gone berserk becomes secondary to a striking staging, rich sound design, and charismatic performances. Adler also likes A History of Everything, in which toys represent historical events (an aerosol can for Hurricane Katrina, an little airplane for 9/11) and time runs in reverse all the way back to the big bang.
The gimmick behind Bombs, Babes, and Bingo is inspired. But the story about a bomb maker recovering from a brain injury? Less so. A bingo ball randomizes the order of scenes, mirroring his disorganized thinking. Sean Graney's alternately ardent and irreverent Romeo Juliet seems sometimes to satirize teenage love. Then again, says Zac Thompson, it can feel like "Graney is riffing and remixing for the sake of riffing and remixing." Still, the final scene resonates emotionally.
Do This The Reader's Agenda: Fri 6/1
Posted by Drew Hunt on 06.01.12 at 06:50 AM
The Interview Show is exactly what it sounds like: host Mark Bazer chops it up with some of Chicago's most famous (and infamous) local personalities.
The first big street fest of the summer kicks off in Wicker Park.
An art festival takes place near Chicago's front yard, with food from local vendors and plenty of family entertainment.
For more on these events and others, check out the Reader's daily Agenda page.
No Alternative Week Media News Galled by the Reader's sale to the Sun-Times? Not really.
Posted by Michael Miner on 06.01.12 at 06:22 AM
"It just got harder to call the Chicago Reader an 'alternative weekly,'" Feder wrote when the sale went down. "Alternative to what?"
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Music Visual Art Post No Bills Drag City unveils its Soccer Club Club on Friday
Posted by Peter Margasak on 05.31.12 at 04:30 PM
Film Underground movies, one flight up—and other notable screenings
Posted by J.R. Jones on 05.31.12 at 04:03 PM
Do This Music Shows to see: Jason Moran, Urizen, Iggy Azalea, and more
Posted by Peter Margasak on 05.31.12 at 01:34 PM
Food Chain Food & Drink Festivals, fund-raisers, and other food and drink events
Posted by Alison Marcotte on 05.31.12 at 01:00 PM
- photos.com
At Chicago Maifest attendees can quaff Louis Glunz Beers Inc.’s beers Hofbrau Original and Pabst Blue Ribbon. The German festival will include food, music, and cultural events. 5/31-6/3, Thu 5 PM-9:30 PM, Fri 5 PM-11 PM, Sat noon-11 PM, Sun noon-10 PM, Chicago Maifest, Lincoln and Leland in Lincoln Square.
Indulge in seasonal appetizers and cocktails at Green City Market Junior Board’s Meet the Market tonight. The event will feature Seedling Fruit’s Peter Klein, the Bedford chef Mark Steuer, and Evanston’s FEW Spirits. Appetizers are complimentary. Cocktails are $8, but $6 is considered a donation. 6-8 PM, the Bedford, 1612 W. Division, 773-235-8800.
Music On the B Side: Local labels, a fake Fugazi, and more
Posted by Miles Raymer on 05.31.12 at 12:30 PM
Gossip Wolf is especially punk this week, featuring local punks Running, reunited midwest punks Planes Mistaken for Stars, and aptly named Fugazi cover band Instrument (who play a benefit for Girls Rock! Chicago this weekend). The latest installment of In Rotation features picks from Cheer-Accident's Dudley Bayne, multi-instrumentalist Boris Hauf, and Reader music editor Philip Montoro. A new Secret History of Chicago Music profiles versatile but anonymous journeyman Dean Milano. And Soundboard offers live picks that include Drake, Iggy Azelea, Doug Paisley, and more—plus a guide to the first big outdoor festival of the season, this weekend's Do-Division Street Fest.
