- Issue of
- Mar 29 - Apr 4, 2018
- Vol. 47, No. 25
Suicide Watch
Retired Chicago cop Dave Blanco’s 14-year-old daughter Carli shot herself to death, sending her family on a mission to raise awareness of teen suicide.
By Joe Ward
Minimal techno master Wolfgang Voigt returns to his ‘imaginary, misty forest’
On the eve of the first Chicago concert in nine years by his most beloved project, Gas, he answers questions from Whitney Johnson of Matchess
Arts & Culture
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- Lit Feature
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In My Lady’s Choosing, two writers create an interactive bodice ripper that’s both a send-up and a valentine
Choose your own adventure and succumb to your passions again and again and again.
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- Theater Review
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Court Theatre’s Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner is tasteful, digestible—and unnecessary
A new adaptation ignores the realities of Jim Crow America in favor of spreading its message of love.
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- Theater Review
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The Goodman’s new Enemy of the People gives us a hero we can’t believe in
This Thomas Stockmann is courageous, tenacious, and a little nuts: a man of our times.
News & Politics
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- Feature
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A Chicago cop’s daughter’s suicide sets family on mission
Carli Blanco shot herself to death at 14, highlighting the growing teen suicide risk.
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- Feature
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Warning signs your child might be contemplating hurting themselves
And the resources available for help
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- Politics
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Sixteen months after cops killed Joshua Beal, still no ruling on whether the shooting was justified
Neither of the off-duty officers involved in the shooting or the dispute that preceded it were in full uniform, as police have claimed.
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- Savage Love
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The ins and outs of male chastity devices
What good’s a cock cage if you can get escape from it? Plus: a reluctant roomie, an enthusiastic spankee
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- Transportation
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Lima’s beautiful boulevard bike paths could be a hit in Chicago
Paths running down the grassy medians of streets like Stony Island and Humboldt could mimic the extensive network in Peru's capital.
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- Identity & Culture
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These teenage girls are leading an exodus from rape culture this Passover
Their new feminist Haggadah shows the way to a promised land of gender equality.
Music
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- Artist on Artist
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Minimal techno master Wolfgang Voigt returns to his ‘imaginary, misty forest’
On the eve of the first Chicago concert in nine years by his most beloved project, Gas, he answers questions from Whitney Johnson of Matchess.
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- Gossip Wolf
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Emily Jane Powers writes pop songs fit for a Pushcart anthology
Plus: Paul Cherry finally fills a full-length with his sweet yacht rock, and post-Disappears trio Facs drop their debut album.
Movies
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- Movie Feature
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Mr. Rogers meets Mexican drug cartels at the Doc10 documentary festival
Profiles of Elvis Presley and Ruth Bader Ginsberg make their local premieres in this year’s edition.
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- Movie Review
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With Ready Player One, Steven Spielberg finds his avatar
The veteran fantasy filmmaker tells the story of a virtual-reality artist much like himself.
Food & Drink
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- Restaurant Review
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The Warbler sings its song for every kind of eater
Stop the presses: there's an interesting new spot in Lincoln Square
Reader
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- Digital Editions
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Print Issue of March 29, 2018
Volume 47, Number 25
Blogs
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- Bleader
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‘Just beat Rauner’: The tables have turned as Dems line up behind Pritzker
OK, we're as bad as Republicans who discount strikes against Trump, but Rauner proved he didn't deserve reelection almost from the day he was sworn in.
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- Bleader
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Gadfly George Blakemore, Cook County Board's biggest nightmare, wins spot on November ballot
The longtime political watchdog emerged from the primaries as the Third District Republican candidate for Cook County Board, running for the seat vacated by Jerry "Iceman" Butler.
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- Bleader
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A spoof of 80s teen movies and more of the best things to do in Chicago this week
Chicago Dance Month Kickoff Celebration and more goings-on March 26-29
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- Bleader
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The case of the missing Keith Haring mural
The 36 panels currently on display at the Chicago Cultural Center are less than a third of the 488-foot-long work the artist created with CPS students in 1989.
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- Bleader
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Drummer and bandleader John Hollenbeck reaches new heights on his new Large Ensemble album
On John Hollenbeck's All Can Work, the ensemble and the material are the stars—which is saying a lot, given how many top-shelf improvisers play on it.
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- Bleader
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Meet the trio of young Latino ‘Berniecrats’ who shocked the Chicago political establishment on election night
The members of "Team Chuy" swept their races on the southwest side. "They took on big-money interests and the Democratic machine, and they won."
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- Bleader
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Keep the Change provides an affectionate look at people with intellectual disabilities
Rachel Israel's debut feature opens today at the Music Box Theatre.
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- Bleader
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Hundreds of Chicago students to protest gun violence outside Stroger Hospital this weekend
GoodKidsMadCity, a group of student activists, is organizing the "sit-/die-in."
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- Bleader
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Remembering Chicago Craigslist Personals, the Wild West of Internet dating
Craigslist has preemptively shut down its personals section, the message board that dominated online searches for friendship, love, or sex about a decade ago.
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- Bleader
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Her style? ‘A little weird, a little masculine, a little trendy, and a lot of streetwear’
"I really try to teeter the line between extremes," says design manager Katrina Wolf in this week's Street View.
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- Bleader
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Fed up with gun violence, students demand ‘real change . . . today’
Students marching Saturday said they refused to let the violent deaths of friends go in vain.
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- Bleader
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Nautical thrillers and mysteries set sail on FilmStruck this week
The streaming-cinema channel presents features by Antonioni, Arthur Penn, and Rene Clement.
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- Bleader
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A year before Stonewall, there was The Boys in the Band, the first successful mainstream play with all gay characters
Mart Crowley's controversial drama about gay liberation turns 50.
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- Bleader
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‘Guns do kill people, asshole’: here are some of the most powerful signs from #Marchforourlives
Some 85,000 rallied in Union Park this weekend to demand more gun control.
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- Bleader
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Chicago’s political psychosis has me paging Dr. Freud after last week’s primary
If you want to know why Trump, Rauner, and Rahm are in power, just study the latest election.
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- Bleader
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A speakeasy at a chocolate factory? What's not to love about Ethereal Confections?
A bean-to-bar chocolate company and confectionery is expanding for the fourth time in seven years, and owners Sara Miller and Mary and Michael Ervin have big plans for the new space.
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- Bleader
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John Coletta's radicchio risotto is bloody good
The Quartino chef publishes Risotto & Beyond.
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- Bleader
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Blues guitarist Joe Carter electrified Chicago’s 1950s club scene, but he never recorded in his heyday
Joe Carter's only LP came out in 1976, and original copies of the raw-as-hell Mean & Evil Blues now fetch more than $100.
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- Bleader
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The first black leader of the Jazz Institute of Chicago, Heather Ireland Robinson, talks segregation and infrastructure
Robinson embarks on her 20th year in Chicago arts administration by taking the reins of the Jazz Institute.
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- Bleader
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The secret lives of food critics, circa 1980
It was a dangerous profession, as the Reader's Toni Schlesinger discovered.
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- Bleader
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How are these seders different from all other seders?
A Beatles-themed Haggadah and other atypical ways to celebrate Passover
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- Bleader
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Steven Soderbergh's Unsane is a provocation disguised as genre entertainment
Shot entirely on an iPhone 7 Plus, the director's new psychological thriller considers gender politics and the zeitgeist.
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- Bleader
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Here's what's next in the push to lift the ban on rent control in Illinois
A referendum on primary ballots in 77 Chicago precincts showed 75 percent support of repealing the Rent Control Preemption Act.
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- Bleader
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The Process v. Product Festival demystifies the art of choreography
For two weekends, dancers, poets, curators, visual artists, and ecologists will gather at Columbia College to talk about movement.
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- Bleader
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Lillstreet’s troubles fire up arts community, but its bankruptcy ends up half-baked
The Ravenswood art center's bankruptcy filing will be withdrawn after its dispute with a Web designer was resolved Tuesday.
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- Bleader
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High-contrast abstraction on the gig poster of the week
This week's featured gig poster was created by local artist Bill Connors, who plays in the band Dim.
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- Bleader
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The 20,000-word article on bees that would forever define the Reader
A 1977 article on beekeeping by Reader editor Michael Lenehan set a precedent for long-form storytelling in the paper.
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- Bleader
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Can Captain Kirk deliver Amazon to Chicago? Please, no
William Shatner's enthusiam for the Amazon deal shows that the farther you are from having to pay for the Amazon deal, the more likely you are to support it.
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- Bleader
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Watch a bartender turn a perfect pairing—queso dip with a michelada—into a cocktail
Challenged to create a cocktail with Lonesome Rose queso dip, bartender Elizabeth Mickiewicz of EZ Inn dehydrates it to rim a savory drink.
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- Bleader
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New York trio Son Lux combine sophisticated craft and overplayed pop on their frustratingly great new album
Son Lux support Brighter Wounds with a headlining set at Lincoln Hall on Thursday, March 29.
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- Bleader
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Aldermen's absolute veto power over ward projects gets unlikely court challenge
A challenge to the age-old custom of aldermanic prerogative finds a champion in a luxury developer pushing a building with affordable housing.
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- Bleader
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It's MLB opening day, so enjoy some Reader baseball coverage
Vendors, artists, punks, reenactors, Bill James, and bearded cultists: a full exploration of America's pastime.