- Issue of
- Oct 25-31, 2018
- Vol. 48, No. 4
Eve Ewing believes in Chicago’s public schools
Her new book Ghosts in the Schoolyard explains why people care so much about institutions the world has deemed to be “failing.”
By Maya Dukmasova
“They want us to feel afraid”: Comics from Marina Labarthe del Solar on trans bodies and fear
Over the Monster Mash? Find your new graveyard smash in Leor Galil’s 13-song Halloween mix
Food & Drink
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- Restaurant Review
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Pop-up restaurant Sao Song minds Chicago’s gap in Lao food
It’s a first step toward chef Andy Sisomboune’s dream of a brick-and-mortar spot.
Arts & Culture
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- Dance
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In the Joffrey’s Swan Lake, there’s no lake and no love, but there’s plenty of self-reflection
Victoria Jaiani’s performance as Odette and Odile deserves better.
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- Performing Arts Feature
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Our Perspective: Asian-American Play Readings is already taking submissions for 2019
Curator Mia Park wants to build a strong Asian- and Pacific Islander-American theater infrastructure in Chicago.
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- Theater Review
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There are a lot of facts in Truman and the Birth of Israel, but they don't add up to much
Instead this Greenhouse production invents its central dramatic incident to make its point.
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- Theater Review
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Adventure Stage's Adventures of Robin Hood asks young audiences to ponder the nature of heroism
The production's nurturing environment invites whole-hearted interaction.
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- Theater Review
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A convict gets an unexpected reprieve in There Is No Power for the Electric Chair
Bulgarian playwright Alexander Sekulov’s drama makes its American debut.
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- Theater Review
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American Jornalero introduces us to two groups of men seeking work: Americans and Mexican immigrants
The play wonders, can life for immigrants in America one day be humane?
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- Theater Review
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Two make an angry mob in The Lonesome West
Martin McDonagh's characters are awful people, but they're always fascinating.
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- Theater Review
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In Dolores Prida's semiautobiographical play Casa Propia, a Cuban immigrant family deals with home ownership
Director Sándor Menéndez creates an adult fairy tale, complete with songs.
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- Theater Review
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Pride Plays and Films’s It’s Only a Play lacks Broadway star power, but it’s still good fun
Terrence McNally's play is essentially a workplace hangout comedy.
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- Theater Review
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Remy Bumppo builds a stunning new Frankenstein
There's not even a hint of Boris Karloff.
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- Theater Review
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E. Faye Butler plays Gypsy’s Mama Rose as one great, ferocious growl
The rest of Porchlight’s raucous revival shines around her.
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- Performing Arts Review
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In Idomeneo, Mozart's music and love prevail against an angry sea god
The strike is over and the Lyric is back in business.
Columns & Opinion
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- On Culture
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The University of Chicago grad student union demands recognition, even without government certification
“We deserve a seat at the bargaining table and we will not stop organizing until our union is recognized and we’ve negotiated a fair contract.”
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- Savage Love
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Constructive Advice Thoughtfully Sought by a gay young adult
A primer on pet-play fetishes. Plus: what do when your weed dealer pulls a Louis C.K., and more
News & Politics
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- Feature
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Eve Ewing still believes in Chicago’s public schools
The new book Ghosts in the Schoolyard explains why people care so much about institutions that the world has deemed “failing.”
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- Feature
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Slow Burn re-creates the daily barrage of information during the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal
And it asks the question, which details from the current administration will still matter 20 years from now?
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- Feature
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Sometimes I believe them
Trans bodies, fear, and feeling normal in 2018.
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- Politics
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Rent control referendum hits three more wards on November ballot
Lift the Ban Coalition steps up pressure for state senate vote on rent control bill
Film
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- Movie Review
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Director Tamara Jenkins returns with Private Life, a sharp and funny examination of infertility and art
A middle-aged couple wonders, If you don’t leave behind a child or a lasting piece of work, were you ever here at all?
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- Movie Review
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Melissa McCarthy and Richard E. Grant make likably unlikable scoundrels in Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Marielle Heller’s new biopic tells the story of 1980s celebrity letters forger Lee Israel.
Music
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- Gossip Wolf
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The Cool Kids hit Temperance to celebrate the tenth birthday of their first EP
Plus: An all-star Chicago crew plays Black Sabbath and Abba at the same Halloween show, and the Cultural Center gives local musicians a showcase in front of industry bigwigs.
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- Music Feature
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The Reader’s guaranteed unboring homegrown Halloween mix
Nothing against “Monster Mash,” but Chicago has spawned lots of scary songs that sound good all year—these 13 tracks cover house, psych rock, techno, boogie, hip-hop, extreme metal, pop punk, and more.
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- The Secret History of Chicago Music
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The Wildwood Pickers took their bluegrass around the world—and worked as a house band at Dollywood
Today the Pickers are best remembered as an early proving ground for one of their founders, guitar virtuoso Muriel Anderson.
Reader
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- Sponsored Content: Faces of 53rd Street (sponsored advertising)
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Lee Padgett, Busted Bra Shop
Faces of 53rd Street
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- Digital Editions
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Print issue of October 25, 2018
Volume 48, Number 4
Blogs
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- Bleader
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Pop-Up Magazine redefines the art of storytelling
A traveling "magazine" brings stories to life through audio-visual components . . . and smells.
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- Bleader
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‘Tackling Taboos’: A conversation on redefining our own truths
From parental career pressure to porn, no topic was off the table at this Chicago Ideas Week event.
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- Bleader
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Alessandro Cortini of Nine Inch Nails talks synths and sensibility with Jordan Reyes of Ono
Cortini is best known for making Trent Reznor sound even better, but in his solo practice he produces symphonies of sound with exotic analog synths.
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- Bleader
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A conversation on the future of the highest court in the land
At Chicago Ideas Week, legal scholars take a broad look at the functions of an effective Supreme Court.
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- Bleader
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Warning, Democrats: a Rauner victory over Pritzker could turn Illinois into a red state
A second term by our current governor would feature more of the same thing: union bashing, budget slashing, school privatization, etc.
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- Bleader
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The cosmic cowboy on the gig poster of the week wants you to take him to your dealer
This week's featured gig poster was designed by local artist and comic Sarah Squirm.
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- Bleader
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At the Coven Classic, Akenya leads a band of talented Chicagoans in covers of Halloween-themed songs by women
Friday at Sleeping Village, the Coven Classic presents fresh live renditions of danceable tracks from "witches and b#$!s from Grace Jones to Nina Simone."
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- Bleader
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Why should the government interfere with the very personal process of gender identity?
Days after a Trump administration memo calls for a strict binary definition of gender, the Intersex Justice Project marches to protest surgeries on babies and children with ambiguous genitalia.
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- Bleader
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Rahm’s legacy: fictitious narratives and real obligations
Don't be fooled. The mayor isn't gone yet, and neither are the problems he's leaving behind.
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- Bleader
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Photographer Jen Jansen has her Beast in control
At her Bucktown studio the restorer and tintype specialist keeps the antique process alive with a made-in-Chicago Deardorff 11x14 studio camera from the 20s.
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- Bleader
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Cardi B and Nicki Minaj are feuding—and these women in Chicago rap don’t see the point
Psalm One, Akenya, Sisi Dior, Chimeka, and Mother Nature talk about sisterhood, mutual support, and the pernicious notion that hip-hop has room for only one female star at a time.
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- Bleader
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What we learned this weekend at the Chicago Humanities Festival
Jerry Saltz, Alex Ross, women's anger, and why historians sort of miss Richard Nixon
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- Bleader
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Chicago noise-rock duo Djunah premier a video that puts the Brett Kavanaughs of the world on notice
Members of the dearly departed Beat Drun Juel and Fake Limbs have joined forces as Djunah, and they play Lincoln Hall this week.
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- Bleader
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The new Suspiria manages to be about women's power without being feminist
Luca Guadagnino's remake takes too much pleasure in the destruction of women.