Art Wed Jul 31 2013
Up at the Noyes Cultural Arts Center right now is a two person show that I would consider pretty exciting and a must see--not just because of the two artists it brings together but because they were brought together by Susan A. Gescheidle. For those of you that don't know, Gescheidle ran a gallery in the West Loop which closed in 2008. In my opinion, she helped support and shepherd contemporary conceptual art into Chicago, and to be able to see her hand so clearly in this show is a great treat.
Continue reading this entry »
— MartinJon
"Starchitect" Jeanne Gang's Studio Gang Architects has been chosen to design a major new facility on the north end of the University of Chicago campus in Hyde Park. The complex will be a residence hall and dining commons planned around the university's house system, which emphasizes building community.
The residence hall will house about 800 undergraduates in eight houses, with first year through fourth year students living together. Faculty members and advanced graduate students will live with the undergrads as resident staff. Each house will be structured around a three-story lounge for meetings, study and relaxation. The dining commons will also be organized by house so members of each community can eat with friends.
View of the commons; rendering by Studio Gang, courtesy University of Chicago.
The complex will be built at the corner of 55th Street and University Avenue, where Pierce Tower now stands. Studio Gang will collaborate with Mortenson Construction; the project is expected to be completed in time for the 2016 academic year. The team will pursue LEED Gold certification, which recognizes design efficiency and sustainability.
Continue reading this entry »
— Nancy Bishop
Art Mon Jul 29 2013
There is no escaping the news of the pervasive violence among African-American youth in cities across America--and looking no further than our own backyard right here in Chicago, it is practically an everyday headline. Despite many efforts that include camps, workshops, panel discussions, etc., which have been implemented to [try] to help understand and offer solutions for this epidemic, the cycle continues. And it is this same vicious cycle that led to "KKK-Kin Killin' Kin," Ohio-based artist James Pate's touring exhibit series that illustrates visual imagery and the effects of rampant violence.
For Pate, who will appear at the DuSable Museum later this week, the images were born out of necessity; however, for some black people, the illustrations evoke a sense of shame and embarrassment, adding more spotlight on the violence. "Somebody accused me of airing our dirty laundry," said Pate. "I'm not airing dirty laundry; this stuff is out here in plain sight. But I'm trying to go to the laundromat and clean this up."
Recently, I spoke with Pate about the series, how it got its name, and the importance of visual art as a means of communication to the masses.
Continue reading this entry »
— LaShawn Williams /
Column Fri Jul 26 2013
The Wolverine
The latest adventure of everyone's favorite X-Man is easily better than his last solo outing (not a tough job, admittedly), X-Men Origins: Wolverine, but I also think it's the mutant's best overall outing in terms of story, cinematic value and action. That being said, there is still a great deal about the film that didn't connect with me, and there are a couple of elements in The Wolverine that are downright terrible.
Taking on my personal favorite era of the original Wolverine comic books, The Wolverine tackles Logan's (still Hugh Jackman) time in Japan, where he falls in love with Mariko (newcomer Tao Okamoto), the granddaughter of Yashida (Haruhiko Yamanouchi), one of the richest men in Japan, who happens to know Logan from their time together in the last days of World War II. Yashida sends one of his associates, the red-haired, future-seeing mutant Yukio (Rila Fukushima), to bring Logan (voluntarily living in exile) to his deathbed so he can say good bye to his old friend. But it turns out Yashida really wants to syphon off Logan's healing factor so he can live longer. Knowing Logan doesn't enjoy the prospect of living forever, Yashida thinks Logan might go for this plan, but he refuses, and the old man dies, leaving his entire fortune and business to Mariko instead of her father Shingen (Hiroyuki Sanada), who immediately tries to have his daughter killed so he can take over the business.
Continue reading this entry »
— Steve Prokopy
Founder and Overlord of WRITE CLUB Ian Belknap (named Best Literary Event by the Reader and Best Live Reading Series by Chicago Magazine) isn't taking the summer off - he's been busy producing Live Lit on the Lake, which takes place on Thursday and Friday nights through August 9.
The format for Live Lit on the Lake is intended to mirror the "sampler" spirit of Theatre on Lake, which seeks each summer to showcase the best of the past year's storefront theater. LLotL invites some of the city's Live Lit all stars to read certain of their favorite pieces, and have a brief chat with host/curator Ian Belknap about the craft and practice of live lit.
Continue reading this entry »
— J.H. Palmer
Art Fri Jul 26 2013
Tonight at Tony Fitzpatrick's Firecat Projects gallery, an exhibition of artwork by Cal Schenkel tonight from 7 to 10pm. Schenkel is best known for his cover art for Frank Zappa and Reprise Records, as well as many others.
Schenkel's first collaboration with Zappa was on the cover for the Mothers of Invention's We're Only in It for the Money, which brilliantly parodies the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band cover art. He went on to produce many of Zappa's album covers and liner designs, as well as for other bands. The one you're probably most familiar with is Captain Beefheart's Trout Mask Replica, for which Don Van Vliet posed for photographs for hours with a hollowed-out carp head on his face.
Continue reading this entry »
— Andrew Huff
Comedy Thu Jul 25 2013
Craig Gass's comedy grind began in the early 90s with gigs at "whatever crappy bar or club would have him"; that grind eventually paid off and led the way to regular appearances on "The Howard Stern Show," guest-starring on hit network sitcoms like "The King of Queens," and a quite memorable role on HBO's "Sex and the City." Today, Gass is well-known for his hilarious celebrity impressions that include Christopher Walken, Gilbert Gottfried, and Al Pacino, and starting tonight and throughout the weekend, he'll be bringing them, along with many others, to Zanies' Rosemont and Chicago locations. Recently, I spoke with Gass to talk about the state of celebrity impressionist comedians, why Tracy Morgan is his favorite celebrity to perform and of course, that "Sex and the City" episode.
Continue reading this entry »
— LaShawn Williams
Theater Tue Jul 23 2013
Matt Deitchman; photo by Taryn Goodge.
The sign outside the theater says, "This is a rock musical. It will be loud." And it starts loud with a four-piece rock band playing preshow music including the classic "Seven Nights to Rock."
Rooms: A Rock Romance is a fairly traditional musical, punctuated by some great rock and punk rock songs performed on stage with a band. It is, at its heart, a love story about two people with different visions of life. Monica (Hillary Marren) wants to be a rock star, to travel and perform all over the world and Ian (Matt Deitchman) is a musician who prefers to stay at home in his own room with his guitar.
Continue reading this entry »
— Nancy Bishop
Video Sun Jul 21 2013
Flight, super strength, or invisibility? Everyone wonders how extraordinary their lives would be with a super power. But what would that be like, really?
Platoon of Power Squadron (PoPS) is a web series where four twentysomething roommates suddenly find they can stop time, control electricity, read minds and multiply themselves.
It's an earnest take on the superhero genre, trading epic battles for Whedonesque realism and banter. The Platoon members are less "superheros" and more "people who happen to have super powers."
"It's very much about these four people who have these powers that they aren't using," said writer-director Jake Jarvi. "They feel like they're worth so much more than they're letting themselves be."
This theme of untapped potential and an uncertain future is a common thread among many shows about twentysomethings today, but PoPS explores it in a funny, unique way. "Girls" hasn't branched out into time-traveling wormholes or disobedient clones quite yet.
Jarvi assembled the platoon back in 2009 after returning from LA, where he found some success as an actor and filmmaker, including a role as one of the pledges in the movie Old School.
This team of friends includes Jarvi and his wife Eliza Toser, Carlyn Janus, and Craig Benzine, who has gained notoriety as YouTube vlogger Wheezy Waiter since the show began.
They filmed the first episode of PoPS in their Logan Square apartment, and every episode since has been an all-volunteer affair, produced with a bare-bones crew during epic 10-hour-long shoots.
Raising money through Indiegogo campaigns- and to a lesser extent, YouTube ads- the show delivers a very high level of quality in spite of its barely-existent budget. This is thanks to the months that Jarvi spends on editing and special effects work at his home in the north suburbs.
The show has been well-received online, as a global community on YouTube has tuned in to the first six episodes and kept in touch with Jarvi's progress on the latest installment through weekly blog updates.
"It never occurred to me that you could have an international audience in the tens of thousands," Jarvi said. "I don't know if we'd be on episode seven right now if they hadn't turned up."
Just released today, the latest episode of Platoon of Power Squadron continues a new chapter in the story: a villain has entered the picture. This mysterious evil is seeking power by any means necessary, and only the Platoon of Power Squadron can stop it- unless it finds them first.
Check out the latest episode of PoPS below:
— Mike Ewing /
Theater Sat Jul 20 2013
"I was born on the other side of a town ripped in two," Hedwig sings in the opening song of the rock-opera Hedwig and the Angry Inch presented by Haven Theatre and now playing at Theater Wit. "I made it over the great divide -- now I'm comin' for you."
Born in communist East Berlin, Hedwig (played by Ryan Lanning) leads a traumatic childhood, to say the least. To escape from a cold mother and bleak life, Hedwig finds a comforting spot in the house -- the family's oven -- and listens to rock and roll musicians like Tony Tennille, Debby Boone, and Lou Reed. Rock music becomes Hedwig's hope, as does Luther, an American GI. With gummy bears in hand, Luther meets Hedwig in an abandoned bomb crater. As it goes, Luther (aka "sugar daddy") asks Hedwig to marry him -- only problem, well: penis. Luther worries that customs will do a full body search and deny them marriage.
At its core Hedwig is about a person who must make choices, for freedom, for love, for rock and roll. It's about self-love and the ways we figure it out. Hedwig decides to go ahead and fake a passport and get a sex-change in order to leave Germany (also, in the throes of love -- it's complicated). But, the operation doesn't go as planned. "My sex change operation got botched -- my guardian angel fell asleep on the watch," Hedwig sings. "Now, all I got is a Barbie doll crotch -- I've got an angry inch!"
Continue reading this entry »
— Tyler Gillespie
Column Fri Jul 19 2013
RED 2
I wasn't much of a fan of the first RED film about middle-aged/over-the-hill former CIA operatives (mostly assassins) who are forced out of retirement to take on both the agency and other assorted bad guys. The primary reason I disliked the film is that, with the exception of Morgan Freeman's character and maybe Helen Mirren, none of the retirees were that old. But as the film went on, the truly aggravating parts of the film involved Bruce Willis' harpy, would-be girlfriend Sarah, played by Mary-Louise Parker. Thankfully, the makers of RED 2 have seen fit to dial up the action quite a bit (a good thing), introduce more interesting characters in the form of Anthony Hopkins and South Korean superstar Byung-hum Lee (also good things), and made Sarah the single most annoying character to have populated a film this year.
But even more irritating is that once again in a mindless action film, the fate of the free world is at stake and people are trying to save friends and loved ones rather than concentrate on, I don't know, saving the planet. Maybe I'm cold blooded, and I apologize if you are someone who is close to me, but if it comes down to saving you or saving the world, kiss your ass good-bye. The needs of the many and all that shit...
Continue reading this entry »
— Steve Prokopy
Theater Fri Jul 19 2013
Mahal is a family story. A Filipino family with strong roots in the Philippines adjusts to life, love and loss in its new country. The family members (the father, two sons and a daughter) are each recovering in their own way from the recent death of the mother. Some family members even call the mother's phone number to hear her voicemail greeting, and leave messages for her until the mailbox fills up.) Danny Bernardo, Bailiwick resident playwright, is the author of this world premiere. Director Erica Weiss was director and co-creator of A Twist of Water, a recent hit for Route 66 Theatre Company.
"Mahal" means "love," and the way family members express or withhold love is the root of this story. The Reyes family has retained many aspects of their Filipino culture--greetings, language and cuisine, of course. It's amazing how for people from all ethnicities and nationalities, many family memories revolve around food.
Bailiwick Chicago's Mahal; photo: Michael Brosilow.
Continue reading this entry »
— Nancy Bishop
Dance Tue Jul 16 2013
Before footworking, percolating, and jukin' became popular, there was steppin'--the smooth--and sometimes, slick and acrobatic--dance style that has been a major part of Chicago's dance culture for decades.
Steppin' is extremely synonymous with Chicago, especially among those of a particular age group; in fact, it is such a part of the fabric of the city's culture that much has been devoted to it, including competitions, balls, television shows, music, and fashion, not to mention you can't go anywhere on the south or west sides without a club having a night dedicated to it. Even the 1997 cult classic film Love Jones (filmed here), which starred Chicago native Larenz Tate, featured an entire scene about steppin'.
Continue reading this entry »
— LaShawn Williams
Theater Tue Jul 16 2013
Some things about The Casuals might make you uncomfortable--nuclear testing, for instance. Government agencies that hide the truth (and insist you don't ask questions). Stories that may be lies or truth. A mother who tells her son how his father died a hero. An uncle who tells his nephew's wife how his brother really died.
The Casuals, set in 1955 Nevada, is a new play presented by Jackalope Theatre Company. The script is by Chance Bone and Andrew Burden Swanson, with direction by Jonathan Berry.
Several stories are entwined in this two-hour drama. Richard "Rich" Hughes (Ed Dzialo), a veteran and former military radio host, deals with an unexpected visit from his nephew Tom (Morgan Maher), who stops with his new wife, Jessica (Ellie Reed) while on their honeymoon road trip. Rich also has a warm connection with a widow, Lucille (Somer Benson) and her 12-year-old son. Lucille's late husband Les (Brad Smith) has a mysterious connection with Rich's past.
Sam Kurzydlo, Ellie Reed, Morgan Maher & Ed Dzialo; photo by Alex Hand.
Continue reading this entry »
— Nancy Bishop
Bold. Audacious. Unafraid.
There are perhaps dozens more adjectives that could describe Paul Mooney; however, for die hard, or even casual observers of the legendary stand-up comedian, these pretty much sum things up.
Fans and students of comedy will tell you that while Mooney wrote for classic 70s sitcoms like "Sanford and Son" and "Good Times," he is best known for his close ties to the late Richard Pryor, which has resulted, in some circles, with him being hailed as "the man behind the man." In the early days and during the peak of Pryor's career, Mooney wrote (or co-wrote) a lot of his television and big screen material, including the short-lived "The Richard Pryor Show," his classic "Saturday Night Live" appearance, JoJo Dancer Your Life is Calling, and much more.
Continue reading this entry »
— LaShawn Williams /
Art Fri Jul 12 2013
The Century Building on State Street has undergone a number of developments to both its structure and facade since it was built in 1915. Next week, the historic building will undergo yet another change: the addition of a mural commissioned by the Chicago Loop Alliance (CLA).
CLA, a member based business organization, commissioned designer and illustrator Noah MacMillan to create a piece of work that invoked the metropolitan flair of Chicago. MacMillan's creation, "Float," is a colorful illustration of a parade of large, bright sea creatures winding through the streets of downtown.
Continue reading this entry »
— Ashley Lisenby
This weekend, legendary comic Dave Attell performs alongside Chicago native Danny Kallas at Mayne Stage in Rogers Park. I was able to chat with the stand-up legend and hilarious 'Insomniac' Attell; the comedian got nasty as we discussed retro porn, his favorite dirty comics and tips to navigate the entertainment business.
Continue reading this entry »
— Joey Delisi
Column Fri Jul 12 2013
Pacific Rim
In the weeks leading up to the release of Pacific Rim, I've been rewatching the films of director/co-writer Guillermo del Toro in order. And just for the hell of it, I've been watching the "making of" extras as well, just because for many of them I never did previously. What I was reminded of through this process is that Del Toro is an obsessive fan of practical effects. This isn't a big secret, but often he went practical because of a combination of budgetary constraints and him liking the weight and texture of the "realness."
I've known since the first trailers of Pacific Rim that the showcased Kaiju (the giant monsters that are being released from a wormhole-like portal deep at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean) and Jaegers (the human-made army of human-controlled, 250-foot-tall mech warriors that are built to defend the Pacific coastlines of North America and Asia primarily) were not going to be practical and nature, and I was willing to accept that this was Del Toro working on a scale he had never experienced before. My concern was that the emotional context that he so wonderfully maintains in all of his works would be lost at this scale. It wasn't that I had lost faith in his abilities, but scale sometimes triumphs over the most heartfelt of intentions.
Continue reading this entry »
— Steve Prokopy /
Theater Fri Jul 12 2013
Put three generations of women in a house together and you're sure to have an eruption of personalities; eventually, long kept secrets slip out and lies are undone. Beaten, a world premiere drama by Scott Woldman, gives the Artistic Home actors a searing and emotionally charged script, and they all come through with fine performances.
The multigenerational family is made up of the grandmother, Eileen (Kathy Scambiatterra), the mother, Madelynne (Kristin Collins) and daughter Chloe (Kathryn Acosta). Each makes us believe in her own tangled past and present. Eileen sets the mold for herself in the first scene when she carves a potato to serve as a one-hit marijuana pipe since her daughter confiscated her bong. She suffers from cancer and sees no reason to stop smoking pot or cigarettes or drinking beer or vodka. She doesn't hesitate to express her feelings about how Madelynne is handling her life or raising her daughter.
Kathy Scambiattera and Kathryn Acosta; photo courtesy of The Artistic Home.
Continue reading this entry »
— Nancy Bishop
Film Sun Jul 07 2013
Beginning Monday, July 8 through July 31, the Gene Siskel Film Center, in conjunction with the Chicago Tribune Foundation and the Chicago Public Library, will feature "Best of Black Harvest Film Festival," a summer program consisting of a screening series of selected films from past festivals.
The Black Harvest Film Festival, described as "the Midwest's largest and longest-running festival dedicated to telling stories of the black experience," kicks off in Chicago on Friday, August 2; however, film fans, in anticipation of this year's festival, can attend free [select] screenings of previous showings, which will be held at various library locations (Woodson Regional, Legler, North Austin and Douglass) throughout the city.
Continue reading this entry »
— LaShawn Williams /
Column Fri Jul 05 2013
The Lone Ranger
First thing's first: just because a particular character is the one telling the story in flashback — namely Johnny Depp's version of Tonto — doesn't mean that the story is actually being told from that character's point of view. Most times, it does mean that, but not always. Case in point, the framing device of this overlong, overstuffed, overblown version of The Lone Ranger story is an elderly Tonto (who looks a little too much like Dustin Hoffman in Little Big Man) relaying the birth of the Ranger-Tonto partnership during a time when railroads were cutting through pristine lands and opening up America in ways that could never be reversed.
But I find it difficult to believe that the way Depp, screenwriters Justin Haythe, Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio, and director Gore Verbinski (the first three Pirates of the Caribbean films, Rango) would choose to honor Tonto and portray him more accurately as an equal partner with Armie Hammer's Lone Ranger is to turn the Native American into a clown. Tonto is nothing more than The Lone Ranger's comic relief, and Depp is essentially swapping out black face for red face, making the sum total of his performance a series of bug eyes, exaggerated grimaces, and limp jokes that would be better suited for the Catskills than the open desert of Monument Valley. The Lone Ranger has elements that work better than others, but Depp's choices with Tonto must be chalked up as a rare example of when his instincts about creating unique and memorable characters have failed him.
Continue reading this entry »
— Steve Prokopy
Theater Fri Jul 05 2013
At first it seems that we might be in for a comic version of Cormac McCarthy's The Road, where a father and son try to survive in a post-apocalyptic wilderness.
Sideshow Theatre's one-woman show features Karie Miller as Woman, a "prepper," living in her underground bunker, getting ready for the sure-to-come apocalypse. We, her audience, are there to learn how to be preppers, too. The warnings and the signs are grim but Woman keeps us entertained with many laugh lines and humorous incidents.
This 70-minute world premiere was written by Carrie Barrett and directed by Megan A. Smith, who keeps the general tone of the play light despite the grim undertones.
Karie Miller; photo by Jonathan L. Green.
What is The Burden of Not Having a Tail? That becomes clear early in the play. Woman, who is big on audience participation, asks us all to feel behind us for our "heinie nub" (just at the base of your spine, however, she describes this location differently.) "Our tails used to help us wag our troubles away," she says. But now, we have one less thing to help us survive.
Continue reading this entry »
— Nancy Bishop
Hi, guys! I didn't find much going on this weekend. Please leave info about additional exhibitions that flew under my radar in the comments section. Happy holiday!
Tonight (Thursday):
Matthew Hoffman: Independence @ Comfort Station
Saturday:
(ƒ)utility projects: boundary transactions @ The Franklin
— Kelly Reaves
Andrea "Drea" Kelly is vivacious, witty, and loaded with artistic talent; as owner of the Andrea Kelly Dance Theater, the Chicago native has emerged, in her own way, from the shadows of her famous ex-husband, R&B superstar, R. Kelly. And now, as part of the ensemble cast of VH1's hit show, "Hollywood Exes," the scene-stealing Kelly has definitely made her mark in the world of reality television.
Having been involved with the entertainment industry for years as principal choreographer and dancer for R. Kelly's award show appearances, music videos, etc., not only has Kelly long been aware of public personas and images, she certainly recognizes the stigma attached to reality TV stars. "If you act a fool, honey, they're gonna edit a fool," she said. Recently, I spoke with Kelly about her love of dance, what fans can expect from the show's second season, and what makes "Hollywood Exes" stand out from its reality television counterparts.
Continue reading this entry »
— LaShawn Williams
