Friday, January 18, 2013
Jazz Music Post No Bills The blustery blowouts of saxophonists Colin Stetson and Mats Gustafsson
Posted by Peter Margasak on 01.18.13 at 02:30 PM
Broken Arts Music Muti will miss Chicago Symphony Orchestra's Asian tour
Posted by Deanna Isaacs on 01.18.13 at 01:47 PM
Muti, suffering from what looked like the flu, returned to his home in Italy earlier this month after spending a single night in Chicago. He'll remain there for this procedure and a recovery period, which means he'll have missed the entire winter season.
Lorin Maazel, director of the Munich Philharmonic, who has a 40-year history with the CSO, will fill in for part of the tour; the rest TBA.
One Sip Food Chain Food & Drink Kishr: Make it a double
Posted by Mike Sula on 01.18.13 at 01:12 PM
- Mike Sula
- Kishr
Politics News Mayor Rahm channels his inner Herbert Hoover
Posted by Ben Joravsky on 01.18.13 at 12:38 PM
- Library of Congress
Mayor RahmHerbert Hoover
In the midst of spending his time trying to bring a casino to Chicago, he dashed over to the banks of the Chicago River to attend a ground-breaking ceremony for River Point.
That's the upscale office skyscraper subsidized with $29.5 million of your hard-earned property tax dollars taken from the mayoral slush fund known as TIF.
Or tax increment financing, to be proper about things.
In the TIF program, the city diverts over $200 million a year from the Chicago Public Schools—currently about $1 billion in debt—to fund much-needed economic development and eradicate blight in low-income neighborhoods.
12 O'Clock Track Music 12 O'Clock Track: Electronic synth-pop from Candian hardcore vets Yacht Club, "A Little Messed Up"
Posted by Luca Cimarusti on 01.18.13 at 12:00 PM
Did You Read __________? News Did you read about a divided Congress, divided Democrats, and the questionable ethics of the quinoa trade?
Posted by Reader staff on 01.18.13 at 11:33 AM
- Vi..Cult...
- Quinoa
Hey, did you read:
• That according to this Politico story, Obama must lead a Democratic party with two factions: liberals, who want to focus on income inequality and unemployment, and centrists, who have more allegiance to Wall Street? (Guess which one Mayor Emanuel is.) —Steve Bogira
• As if you didn't suspect as much, that the last session of Congress was the most politically divided in history? —Mick Dumke
• That the much-bemoaned budget deficit "is already, to a large degree, solved," according to Paul Krugman? —Steve Bogira
• About the questionable ethics behind the quinoa trade? —Luca Cimarusti
• Adam Mansbach's first dispatch from his book tour? ("The publishing industry stopped having new ideas out of respect for the untimely death of Ernest Hemingway in 1961, and has been doing everything the same way ever since.") —Sam Worley
• The Library of Congress blog on the inaugural Bibles? —John Dunlevy
• This Pitchfork article on New York City's new underground dance-music culture? —Tal Rosenberg
Media Film Politics Can the torture scenes in Zero Dark Thirty be defended?
Posted by Michael Miner on 01.18.13 at 10:33 AM
A great movie whose expedient plotting is all on Bigelow. Mark Boal, who wrote the script, was nominated for best original screenplay.
In a statement defending herself and her movie, Bigelow calls herself a "lifelong pacifist" opposed to "inhumane treatment of any kind," and she wonders "if some of the sentiments alternately expressed about the film might be more appropriately directed at those who instituted and ordered these U.S. policies [of torture], as opposed to a motion picture that brings the story to the screen. Those of us who work in the arts know that depiction is not endorsement."
Year in Review Music Post No Bills My favorite albums of 2012, numbers ten through one
Posted by Peter Margasak on 01.18.13 at 08:32 AM
The final installment of the year-end countdown of my favorite albums from 2012.
10. Duane Pitre, Feel Free (Important) New Orleans composer Duane Pitre created a system/composition using a computer algorithm. At root, the computer holds various recordings of harmonic patterns played on guitars tuned in just intonation; the program randomly plays back various little snatches, which overlap and resonate in ever-changing combinations. The piece can function in that sparse mode, but it becomes more interesting when other players join in, as on this lovely recording with violinist Jim Altieri, hammer dulcimer player Shannon Fields, bassist James Ilgenfritz, cellist Jessie Marino, and harpist Jesse Sparhawk. Participants are free to play what they want, although Pitre established rules to prevent performances from veering into chaos or overload. These collaborators nail it, making it the most beautiful, gently accruing piece of strings vibrations I've heard all year.
Opening Film A neglected Chicago filmmaker gets his due, and the rest of this week's screenings
Posted by Ben Sachs on 01.18.13 at 07:27 AM
Do This Arts Reader's Agenda Fri 1/18: Bingo Night Fund Raiser, Dolphin Reopens, and Grace Potter & the Nocturnals
Posted by Katie Kather on 01.18.13 at 06:08 AM
Bingo night has moved out of the nursing home and into Wicker Park/Bucktown. 826CHI is hosting a Bingo Night Fund Raiser for the Chicago Zine Fest with opportunities to win prizes from Threadless and Intelligentsia. The event is BYOB.
Wicker Park nightclub Green Dolphin reopens Friday with a performance by Crystal Method and a new name: Dolphin.
And anyone who likes to belt out Grace Potter's Stars (or is it just me?) can see her tonight with the Nocturnals and Langhorne Slim at the Riviera Theatre.
For more on these events and others, check out the Reader's daily Agenda page.
