Events Search
312-744-6630Phil Jackson
Thu., May 23, 7 p.m.Literary Events
Jackson, the legendary basketball coach, discusses his book 11 Rings. RSVP required. $20-$45
Brass Spectacular
Sun., May 26, 6:30 p.m.Classical
A celebration Northwestern University's lauded brass program, featuring variations of Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries" and Gabreli's "Canzon Primi Toni."
The Lake Effect
Through 5/26: Tue-Thu 7:30 PM, Fri 8 PM, Sat-Sun 4 PMTheater & Performance
Playwright Rajiv Joseph is best known for Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, which was introduced to Chicago last winter by the Lookingglass Theatre Company. A Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2010, the play offers a dreamlike, absurd, yet morally and politically serious evocation of Dubya's Iraq war—narrated by the title cat, who's killed for biting off an American soldier's hand only to find himself walking the ruined streets of Baghdad as a ghost. Don't expect the same sort of experience from The Lake Effect, the Joseph script getting an uneven but involving world-premiere production now at Silk Road Rising. This one is a totally different animal. Continue reading >> $35
Lee Ranaldo Band, Marc Ribot's Ceramic Dog
Mon., May 27, 6:30 p.m.Rock, Pop, Etc
Your Turn (Northern Spy) is the second and best album by Ceramic Dog, the knotty rock trio led by guitarist Marc Ribot. The group’s 2008 debut, Party Intellectuals (Pi), felt a bit slick and chilly, but the new one—with raw, vibrant production by Deerhoof’s Greg Saunier—is elbow deep in blood and grit, and Ribot sounds his most inspired and concise, even on extended solos. Supported by bassist Shahzad Ismaily and drummer Ches Smith, he skips among genres and tropes without sounding at all dilettantish: a sort of punk-blues hijack of 60s rock (“Lies My Body Told Me,” about struggling against the procreative impulse), furiously swinging instrumental surf rock (“Your Turn”), quaint rocksteady (“Ain’t Gonna Let Them Turn Us Around”), early jazz (“The Kid Is Back!”), and even a version of Dave Brubeck’s “Take Five.” Ribot is at best a serviceable vocalist, and when he crosses over from his usual crankiness into outright bitterness—most egregriously on “Masters of the Internet,” an artless rant about musicians getting screwed by online piracy—it’s hard not to cringe, even though the sentiment is understandable. Luckily, though, he lets his guitar do most of the talking. He’s built a career by flouting expectations and yanking the rug out from under his own music, but in Ceramic Dog he often leaves well enough alone—and even when he does take things sideways, it’s easy to hang on for the ride. —Peter Margasak The Lee Ranaldo Band headlines.
Ross Matthews
Tue., May 28, 5 p.m.Literary Events
Matthews, the E! News correspondent, signs copies of his book Man Up!: Tales of My Delusional Self-Confidence.
Preservation and Adaptive Reuse of the Viceroy Hotel
Wed., May 29, 12:15 p.m.Lectures
Architects Hume An and Jeff Bone disucss the rehabilitation efforts behind the historic building on Chicago's near west side. Part of Lunch Talks @ CAF.
Shape, Rattle, and Roll
5/3-5/31Galleries
Work that relies heavily on computer software and other digital technologies by Chicago-based artist Karen I. Hirsch. Reception Fri 5/10, 5-9 PM.
By the Way, Meet Vera Stark
Through 6/2: Wed-Thu 7:30 PM, Fri-Sat 8 PM, Sun 2 and 7:30 PMTheater & Performance
For certain kinds of people, achieving the American dream has always been a stealth operation. Coming up during the Depression, for instance, my dad obscured his Ashkenazic roots by Latinizing his first name (Maurice, from Moishe), classicizing his middle name (Alexander, after Alexander the Great) and Teutonizing his surname (Adler, from, well, something that wasn't Adler). Others have had to resort to more extreme methods. Obviously, a name change alone wasn't going to give a Negro access to the good life in pre-Civil Rights Act America, though a high-yellow complexion and careful locution might. Too dark to pass? Then it was a good idea to be phenomenally talented and resourceful. Josephine Baker found stardom by flirting with scandal en Francais. Musicians like Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald, by inventing jazz. Actors like Hattie McDaniel, Butterfly McQueen, and Stepin Fetchit, by simultaneously playing to and humanizing ("subverting" is too strong a word) white society's standard catalog of black caricatures. Continue reading >> $25-$81
Chicago Blues Festival
6/6-6/9: Thu 6:30-9 PM, Fri-Sun 11AM-9:30 PMMusic Festivals
Among the major draws are Shemekia Copeland, Irma Thomas, Otis Clay, and James Cotton. Other activities include a drum clinic with Odie Payne Jr., a panel discussion commemorating Pinetop Perkins’s 100th birthday, and a harmonica session with Fernando Jones.
