You're going to hear a lot of people (critics, in particular) agree that The American feels retro or has a certain European wire running through its core, and I can see that and maybe even agree with the latter assessment. But what the only 2010 offering from actor George Clooney (after three films out last year) really has is a level of sophistication and understated menace that sets it apart from perhaps every other film about a professional assassin ever made. With guidance from the great photographer/music video maker, Control director Anton Corbijn, The American takes us inside the mind of a man who can kill for a living and lets us examine not only what makes him good at his job, but also how those very elements are the ones eating away at his soul and slowly consuming any remaining thing about him that is good.
Don't worry, it's not as gross as the headline may suggest. Independent improv team Michael Pizza is celebrating their two year anniversary, and they're throwing a big bash to thank their supporters. They're pulling out all the stops, with musical improv group Baby Wants Candy opening for them, and special guest improviser TJ Jagodowski will be joining the men of Michael Pizza on stage. There'll be free pizza for the audience (!) and drink specials all night.
This all goes down this Sunday, September 5th at 8 p.m. at ComedySportz (929 W. Belmont). Tickets are just $5 (Where else can you enjoy dinner and a show for that extremely reasonable price?) and can be purchased by calling 773-549-8080 or through www.ticketmaster.com
Peanut Gallery, the gallery in the Flat Iron building that I recently opened with collaborator Charlie Megna is looking for art to show in October, in a group show devoted to vacation. What did you do this summer?
Submit jpegs to peanutgallerychicago@gmail.com by Monday, September 27. Please only submit work that will be available for exhibition in Chicago in October, that you can deliver to the gallery by Monday, October 4. This is a curated show, but we welcome work of any media by anyone, as long as we can get it through the door. We'll get back to you by September 28 and let you know if we can show your work. Please email us with questions. Thanks!
David Hernandez, who used a Ponzi scheme to steal people's money and run the failed Chicago Sports Webio online station, is now using TV news to make himself look good, even though he ruined many people's lives and faked cancer to avoid jail.
If you want to avoid his lies and fake cries, then go to about the 1:45 mark to see what Chet Coppock has to say. You can also just read the transcript at the WLS-TV site.
This feature was submitted by freelance writer J.R. Williams. All photos are by the author, unless otherwise noted.
Chicago Avenue used to have it all -- shops, theaters, department stores and restaurants. People used to hang out on the stretch of road between Damen and Ashland to catch dinner and a movie and to do some shopping afterward. It was a 1960s urban oasis if you will.
Over the years, the area began to change. Businesses closed down, residents moved out and condos moved in. In a sense, it was like a death to the 'hood. But there is still a strong presence, a scent in the air that smells like a mix between leisure and fun with a hint of old school hard work. This is an area in limbo, trapped between beauty and grit, between no money and new. There's an evolution going on. And you can see it, in the eclectic shops and eateries that stand in the shadows of deserted storefronts and rundown brick buildings. But like many neighborhoods in the city, its charm lies in the unchanged.
Performance artist and sculptor Matthew Barney has spent over eight years creating the elaborate world presented in his five-part film series Cremaster Cycle. Barney's experience in the art world gives each film in the series unique, sometimes startling imagery as vivid as his imagination. His films combine everything from Celtic mysticism (Cremaster 3), gender-bending cowboys (Cremaster 2), and a satyr at the bottom of the sea (Cremaster 4). There's only one catch - these films are not available on DVD, nor will they ever will be. People who are interested can either subject themselves to horrible bootleg copies or go to the Music Box Theatre September 3 through 9 to catch all five films on the theater's huge screen. The theater will also be showing Barney's new short film De Lama Lâmina. Though not a part of the narrative, De Lama Lâmina follows Barney, musician Arto Lindsay, and percussion group Cortejo Afro through their parade show for Carnaval de Salvador da Bahia in Brazil. You can watch the trailer for the Cremaster Cycle through their official website.
The Cremaster Cycle screens at the Music Box Theatre September 3 to 9. Tickets are $10 for one individual program and $24 for all five films. All screening times are available through the program's page. Each film is divided into three parts - parts 1 and 2, part 3, and parts 4 and 5 and De Lama Lâmina.
Over the past few decades, anatomy-- specifically medical illustrations-- has grown in popularity in art and design. You may recall the skull trend that took over the interior design world a couple years ago. Vanessa Ruiz, Art Director for a large pharmaceutical ad agency and author of the popular blog, Street Anatomy, has taken note of this trend and has curated a show devoted to anatomy in art at the Museum Of Surgical Science, opening this Friday.
Ruiz states, "Anatomy has become as pervasive in modern culture as it is in medical textbooks. The subject is used extensively in advertising, designer toys, fashion, interior design, street art, and more. Even the heart at the center of the classic ʻI heart Momʼ tattoo has taken a turn for the anatomically correct, as tattoo artists impart a more real and visceral emotion to the piece--a testament to the validity of the statement."
A columnist at the Associated Press has compiled a list of what's "hot" in Chicago culture and narrowed it down to her top five picks.
Of course, the list contains notable institutions such as the Field Museum and The Art Institute of Chicago--two that would be featured on anyone's list. As we all know though, there is so much more to Chicago's cultural landscape than the aforementioned, and that's what concerns me about "lists" like this one.
These lists are necessary because they provide a basic guide for visitors; however, a lot of times, they tend to overlook Chicago culture that extends beyond downtown.
There is a lot of culture in the way of museums, theaters, art galleries, etc., all over town that shows the city in all its diversity, and it would be great if the compilers of these lists branched out and displayed this more often.
I am very glad that Archie Panjabi won an Emmy for her role as Kalinda in my favorite drama series "The Good Wife," which takes place in Chicago and has some interesting incongruencies that I'll probably keep pointing out here.
Her character is interesting and multifaceted (not the typical slut/bimbo that TV likes to give us), and she's a good actress. However, I sometimes notice that her American accent slips to reveal her British one when she uses words with "r" and some vowels. Since I'm into language, I tend to catch weakened American accents, and while she gets it right most of the time, I still discern the imperfections. I think the show implies that she is American-born and her parents immigrated from India, so her accent should be totally Chicago or wherever she's supposed to be from.
Anyway, I'm very glad she won and look forward to watching the new season!
From local Chicago comedy clubs one minute to joining Conan O'Brien's writing team the next--impossible, right? Not really--especially if you're Deon Cole. Here, the edgy, Emmy-nominated comedian talks about his Chicago roots, working with O'Brien and what it means to be "super black."
Tell us how you got started. Where in Chicago did you hone your skills?
I got my start years ago on the South Side, where I did a lot of my first stand-up performances. I performed at All Jokes Aside and the Comedy Act Theatre and at different schools and clubs.
Would you say your Chicago roots have an influence on your style?
Absolutely, especially since Chicago is a very diverse place. You can go on any side of the city and it can feel like you're in another state. All of that is why I'm so well-rounded with my material.
You were in the Windy City earlier this summer for Martin Lawrence's "1st Amendment Stand-Up", TBS's "Just for Laughs" and for the Conan O'Brien Tour. What was it like being onstage in front of your hometown again?
It was phenomenal. To host "1st Amendment Stand-Up" and the TBS special with all of Conan's writers was great. Andy Richter also has Chicago roots, so it was really a homecoming for both of us.
Redmoon is, of course, well known for its large-scale theatrical events -- even they prefer to refer to them as spectacles, because "play" just doesn't capture what they do. Their latest is the Joyous Outdoor Event, aka J.O.E. It's being staged in South Belmont Harbor Park, at Belmont and Lake Shore Drive, in collaboration with the Metro/smartbar and Chicago Park District. Among the many goings-on are concerts by JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound, Scotland Yard Gospel Choir, My Gold Mask and others (curated by Metro); performances by Redmoon and other theatre troupes; a clown fashion show; games, races and tugs-of-war; soapbox speeches on Labor Day; and The Luminarium, the large explorable structure pictured above. Each evening culminates in a performance of Redmoon's Last of My Species II: The Perilous Songs of Bibi Merhdad, billed as a sequel to last year's spectacle.
J.O.E. runs Thursday, Sept. 2 from 6 to 10pm; Friday, Sept. 3 from 6 to 10pm; Saturday, Sept. 4 from 1 to 10pm; Sunday, Sept. 5 from 1 to 10pm; and Monday, Sept.6 from 1 to 6pm. Tickets are $25 for adults, $10 for kids.
The Last Exorcism it as a story of a preacher who has gotten into the exorcism game to bilk the faithful out of their hard-earned cash. He has taken advantage of the uncertainty of the times and the stress that society is under, and has turned that into a business for his unique brand of knowledge and skills as an orator. There's a moment in the beginning of the film where the Rev. Cotton Marcus (Patrick Fabian) tells the film crew following him that he can insert anything into a sermon, and his followers will eat it up. He proves his point by literally working in the recipe for banana bread into his fire-and-brimstone speech. He's also considered one of the South's greatest performers of exorcisms. But we soon realize that Marcus hasn't invited a camera crew to document want a fine preacher he is; he's brought them in so he can show them that he's a fraud. This is his version of confession, and his plan is to pick a letter at random from the hundreds he gets requesting his exorcism services and walking us through his tricks of the trade on what is meant to be his final performance as an extractor of Satan.
All summer long pairs of improvisers have been battling it out on the stage of ComedySportz, and this Sunday the top duos will have one last chance to fight it out in ComedySportz's Dual Duel. At stake are a trophy and a hundred dollars for each winning improviser.
Here's the show's line-up...
Diva - Jamie Campbell & Chris Tiberio
Buscow - Matt Castellvi & Matt Herzau
The Nick & Jessica Variety Hour - Mel Evans & Brian Finlay
Curt Locker - Lisa Linke & Mike Johnson
Door-in-face - Kate Cohen & Mike Girts (Last year's winners, back to defend their title!)
The show is this Sunday, August 29 at 9pm at ComedySportz (929 W. Belmont). Tickets are $5, and can be purchased by calling 773-549-8080 or online.
Had I known that The Real Inspector Hound by Tom Stoppard was a play about how the efforts of critique are fruitless and irrelevant, I may not have jumped on the chance to critique it. If you're not familiar with Stoppard's story, written and produced for the first time in 1968, it's a "whodunit" play, within a commentary on the biases of critics. But there I found myself last Thursday, in the Signal Ensemble Theatre's new permanent space in North Center, being sucked into two simultaneous plays and questioning my role as a "critic" in the room.
Errol and I are in the car. He's been to The Sins Center before and I, well, I have never been to a BDSM club. "So tell me again about the last time you were there," I ask. He shakes his head. "So I walk in, checking out the place and I notice there are a lot of older people. I sit down and this little old lady comes up. Gray hair, you know someone's Grandma, here to pick them up. Then this guy starts tying her onto the equipment, pulling out crops and paddles. And she starts taking a beating. She's got age spots... this guy is whipping them."
We laugh, but Errol says he felt like he needed to watch to make sure that she was OK, and didn't have a heart attack.
The Sins Center is spacious and clean. Saint Andrew's crosses hang against the walls, empty sex slings sag in the corner. An older man with a beard flogs a graying submissive — a naked and bulbous woman bent into doggy style. Her purple posterior takes each of his toys: leather flogger, plastic cane, studded paddle.
The story of the nebulous gentrification of a colorful strip in Ukrainian Village, told through interviews with its small business owners. Read this feature »
