Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Arts Poetry History "This is not a Holocaust story, this is a war story": The life of Hannah Senesh
Posted by Aimee Levitt on 05.21.13 at 05:15 PM
- collection of the Senesh family
- Hannah Senesh and her brother Gyuri in Tel Aviv, 1944
Except that "Fire In My Heart: The Story of Hannah Senesh" just went on display at the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center in Skokie.
Nonetheless, it's true that "Fire In My Heart" does not bear any of the hallmarks of a Holocaust exhibit. There are no yellow stars, no striped uniforms, no photos of starving concentration camp inmates. Hannah Senesh spent most of World War II in the relative safety of Palestine. Though she did die at the hands of the Gestapo, it was while facing a firing squad, not in a gas chamber.
"She was not murdered," says Levine. "She was executed. She was given a soldier's death. She was buried in a Jewish cemetery, not dumped in the Danube. She was executed because she was a traitor to Hungary. For these reasons, this is not a Holocaust story."
It is, however, one of the most remarkable stories that came out of the Holocaust era.
Do This Film Music Black Cinema House has The Blues—and more—this Friday
Posted by Ben Sachs on 05.21.13 at 04:10 PM
Speaking of Chicago Film Archives, a week from tonight the organization will present another free outdoor screening, this one on the lawn next to Logan Square's Comfort Station. The movie will be Burden of Dreams, a documentary about the infamous production of Werner Herzog's Fitzcarraldo by the recently deceased filmmaker Les Blank. (And speaking of Fitzcarraldo, that movie screens a week from tomorrow in Doc Films's ongoing Herzog series.) It'll be projected from a 16-millimeter print from the Chicago Public Library's collection.
On the Charts Music The summer jam that's about to rewrite the Billboard record books
Posted by Miles Raymer on 05.21.13 at 02:47 PM
That's the Mariah who just put out a song called "#Beautiful" with critically adored R&B singer, drugs liker, and animated gif star Miguel. With its echo-drenched backbeat, twanging guitars, and stacked backup vocals, despite the self-consciously modern title it's one of the most straightforwardly retro singles that Carey's ever released, and offers further proof that Amy Winehouse continues to have a stronger influence on contemporary R&B (not to mention hip-hop) than a lot of people are willing to give her credit for.
Arts Visual Art Print may be dying, but art is alive and kicking
Posted by Sarah Nardi on 05.21.13 at 02:09 PM
- J. Howard Miller
- Rosie the riveter
Theater Arts Politics News ArtPlace America ignites Great Chicago Fire Festival with $250,000 grant
Posted by Deanna Isaacs on 05.21.13 at 01:33 PM
- Lin Ye
- A ritual burning is coming to Chicago.
There's no mention in the announcement of previously revealed plans to build, float, and burn effigies representing the thing each Chicago neighborhood most wants to get rid of.
Artplace America is "a collaboration of leading national and regional foundations, banks and federal agencies" that funds projects using art as a catalyst for community revitalization.
The Fire Festival grant is one of 134 Artplace is making this year.
12 O'Clock Track Music 12 O'Clock Track: Katie and Allison Crutchfield's noisy take on "Oblivion"
Posted by Miles Raymer on 05.21.13 at 12:00 PM
The Crutchfields' cover is this month's theme song at Rookie magazine, where Reader alum Jessica Hopper's recently taken over music editorial duties. You can stream it after the jump.
Did You Read __________? News Did you read about the Oklahoma tornado, Hillary Rodham Clinton, and Phil Jackson?
Posted by Reader staff on 05.21.13 at 11:01 AM
- AP Photo/Douglas C. Pizac)
- Phil Jackson, 2003
Hey, did you read:
• That the Oklahoma tornado puts that state's senators in a sticky situation? —Tony Adler
• Farai Chideya writing in the Nation on how to solve journalism's class and color crisis? —Tal Rosenberg
• That Jann Wenner's 22-year-old son and recent Brown University graduate Gus Wenner is taking the reins of Rollingstone.com? (Talk about an extravagant graduation present.) —Leor Galil
• That a little-known mathematician has made a breakthrough on Twin Prime Conjecture? ("Just very suddenly, an idea came to my mind," Yitang Zhang said.) —Steve Bogira
• That there are big bucks to be made off female anxiety, whether about breast cancer (the test for the BRCA mutation now made famous by Angelina Jolie is $3,000) or fertility
(yet another freeze-your-eggs-now proselyte has popped up, urging all women over 35 to undergo the $9,000-$13,000 procedure)? (Of course, neither is covered by insurance.) —Kate Schmidt
• That a biopic may be in the works about a certain Hillary Rodham Clinton? —Mick Dumke
• About grocery shopping with Phil Jackson? —Aimee Levitt
• That the anchored putting stroke, used by the winners of four of the last six major championships, has been banned, effective 2016? (There goes my chance to break 80.) —Steve Bogira
• That NASA has finally decided to start 3-D printing pizza? Finally. —Kevin Warwick
Media News A look at immoderation on the pundit front
Posted by Michael Miner on 05.21.13 at 07:58 AM
- AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin
- According to pundits, Obama's connection to Chicago explains everything.
David Brooks began his column in last Friday’s New York Times with a quote from Clinton Rossiter comparing government to fire: "Under control, it is the most useful of servants; out of control, it is a ravaging tyrant." Brooks didn’t come right out and say that tyrant is now trampling our liberties, but he sees alarming signs. "Most government workers are amazingly dedicated and talented," he allowed, but there are too many others who "far from checking their own desire for control, have taken it out for a romp." His eye on recent IRS and Justice Department scandals, Brooks diagnosed a "culture of unrestraint" in Washington and worried that federal regulators writing new health-care and financial rules will "expand their reach beyond anything now imagined."
The job of a headline writer is to get to the point the careful columnist might have only hinted at. The headline over Brooks’s column said bluntly: "When Governments Go Bad."
Do This Arts Reader's Agenda Tue 5/21: Israeli jazz, immigrant stories, and a JC Brooks listening party
Posted by Tosten Burks on 05.21.13 at 06:11 AM
- Clayton Hauck
- JC Brooks & the Uptown Sound
If there's one group of people who know how to throw a jazz festival it's the . . . Israeli consulate to the midwest? Swallow your surprise and catch rising New York guitarist Gilad Hekselman at the Anshe Emet Synagogue.
Anchee Min discusses The Cooked Seed: A Memoir, her follow-up to the best-selling Red Azalea, at the Harold Washington Library Center. It's a story about coming to America after growing up in China during the Cultural Revolution. Happy Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month.
"Postfunk soul" is quite a self-description for JC Brooks & the Uptown Sound's brand of simple, nostalgic blues-pop. Hear them earn it at the listening party at Saki for Howl, their new album on Bloodshot. WXRT's Marty Lennartz hosts a Q&A and Brooks spins a DJ set.
For more on these events and others, check out the Reader's daily Agenda page.
Monday, May 20, 2013
One Bite Food & Drink The House of the Rising Sun burger at Portage Park's Leadbelly
Posted by Aimee Levitt on 05.20.13 at 04:58 PM
- Aimee Levitt
- The House of the Rising Sun
The restaurant's blues-bar theme is, frankly, a little silly, particularly since the place looks way too new and clean to be in any way authentic. This is, by the way, absolutely fine with the clientele, who, at least based on a sample observed last Saturday night, appears to be comprised of Portage Park residents in their mid-30s who just want a place where they can take their toddlers and still get a decent meal and, therefore, have sacrificed their need for authenticity for clean floors.
