Critical Mass

Chicago Critical Mass bike rides start from Daley Plaza, Dearborn & Washington at 5:30pm the last Friday of each month, regardless of season or weather. They are free and fun. All you have to do is show up with your bike.

Third Coast Festival presents Joe Frank

Chicago Public Radio's Third Coast International Audio Festival presents the first Chicago appearance by radio monologist Joe Frank. Mr. Frank will present an original program that he describes on his site as "a meditation on infidelity in love, fellowship, philosophy and faith." The performance takes place tonight from 7:30 to 9:00 at Fullerton Hall at the Art Institute of Chicago. Admission is $15, and tickets are available through Ticketmaster. Art Institute of Chicago: 111 South Michigan Ave.

Rhino Theater Fest: POWER brecht-down 2004

A new Bertolt Brecht revue, adapted by Stefan Brün. Part of the Rhinoceros Theater Festival. "Jenny Magnus and Beau O'Reilly break down power for you in a new revue devoted to this, unfortunately, so timely poet and playwright. POWER brecht-down 2004 includes texts and songs never before translated into English as well as The Beggar or the Dead Dog, Money Medley and an excerpt from Brecht's Training Manual for War. Part of Curious’s Rhino ’04 look back at the masters who influenced us." 7pm, Curious Theatre Branch, 7001 N Glenwood. $12 or pay what you can. Call 773-274-6660 for reservations.

Rhino Theater Fest: White Suit Science

A new piece written and directed by Shawn Reddy for the Rhinoceros Theatre Festival. "From the mind that brought you last year’s Rhino and PAC/Edge hit, My Name is Mudd, comes a super-scientific-y investigation into one of America’s great literary mysteries. Why did Mark Twain wear a white suit out of season? Complete with Mark Twain impersonators, Kentucky Fried Chicken conspiracies, dry cleaning techniques, God’s experiments on little animals, Silas Phelps’s penis, and much, much more in the way of irrelevant supporting material, White Suit Science finally reveals the greatest ancient Chinese secret this side of the Mississippi!" 9pm, Curious Theatre Branch, 7001 N Glenwood. $12 or pay what you can. Call 773-274-6660 for reservations.

Cornel West Book Signing

Author, scholar and frequent contributor to NPR's Tavis Smiley Show, Cornel West, will discuss his new book, Democracy Matters today at 12:30 p.m. at Borders downtown at 150 N. State Street. For more information, call (312) 606-0750 or read an excerpt here.

Billy Corgan Book Signing

Billy Corgan's book of poetry, Blinking with Fists is full of "the regretful melancholy of his music [and] the rhythmic, angular wordplay of his best Pumpkins lyrics" (Jeff Vrabel, Chicago Sun-Times). Corgan's sitting down at the Borders Bookstore at 830 N. Michigan Avenue to sign copies tonight. (Note: Borders says he will be signing copies of the new book only, so don't bring down your whole Smashing Pumpkins discography.) The line for this signing will start at 5 p.m., with the event beginning at 7 p.m. Call the events hotline for more information at 312-573-0564.

GB Get-Together

Gapers Block's monthly GB Get-Together is tonight at Hopleaf, 5148 N. Clark (just south of Foster). We'll be in the upstairs bar from 9pm till midnight-ish.

The Get-Together is an opportunity to hang out meet some of the GB staff in relaxed, somewhat hip environment. No pressure, just fun. And booze.

Vic Chesnutt @ Old Town School of Folk Music

Tonight at 8 p.m. WLUW and the Old Town School of Folk Music present Vic Chesnutt with special guest Carter Little at the American Airlines Concert Hall located at 4544 N Lincoln Ave. From the Old Town website: "There are few artists working today that have the poetic and melodic gift that Vic Chesnutt has and fewer still can approach his sheer originality. At the age of 18, he was in an automobile accident that left him a paraplegic, but that did not stop the talented singer-songwriter from performing his contemporary acoustic folk around Athens, Georgia. In the early nineties, he caught the attention of REM's Michael Stipe, who assisted Vic in getting out a couple of critically acclaimed albums. Since then, Chesnutt has continued to impress and win over listeners with a literate and somber brand of urban folk." Tickets are $20, $18 Old Town School members, $16 seniors and kids.

Bob Paisley and The Southern Grass @ Am. Legion

Tonight at 8 p.m. at the American Legion Music Hall in Evanston (1030 Central Street) Bob Paisley and The Southern Grass bring their traditional bluegrass stylings to the Chicago area. Bob Paisley and The Southern Grass are "a group of bluegrass musicians who have long-standing music and family connections that go back for decades to the mountains of southwest Virginia and northwestern North Carolina. Their distinctive brand of hard-driving bluegrass music combines soulful and powerful harmony singing with exciting instrumental work." Read about Bob in the September 2004 issue of Bluegrass Unlimited. For more information email concerts@chicagobluegrass.com or call Chip Covington 847-573-0443 or visit Chicago Bluegrass. Tickets are a $15 Donation Adults and $10 Kids under 16.

Haunting History in Evanston

This Halloween, Evanston’s Charles Gates Dawes House will once again take on a spectacularly spooky atmosphere as magician and Halloween expert David Parr returns to lead visitors on eerie interactive tours of the historic mansion. From Oct. 22 through 31, at 7 and 8 p.m. nightly, Parr will lead small groups on dramatic tours of the mansion during which each room offers an encounter with the uncanny and supernatural. Objects move on their own accord, cryptic messages are written by invisible hands, and shadowy forms lurk in hallways. Equal parts history and mystery, Parr’s spooky tours offer visitors a side of the historic home that few ever encounter. The Dawes House, built in 1896, is an essential part of the show. The three-story historic mansion, once the home of U.S. Vice President Charles Gates Dawes, is distinguished by its dark oak woodwork and majestic stained glass. Chosen because of its massive, foreboding appearance to be the home of mob boss John Rooney (portrayed by Paul Newman) in the feature film Road to Perdition, the house’s vast spaces, dim lighting, and shadowy corridors make it the perfect setting for Parr’s type of eerie Halloween event. The Charles Gates Dawes House is located at 225 Greenwood St., Evanston. Performances are at 7 and 8 p.m. nightly, with additional performances at 9 p.m. Oct. 28–31 and at 10 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 31. Spectators attending performances at 8 p.m. or later should park only on Greenwood Street. Tickets are $20 per person. For reservations or more information, call 847-475-3410, email evanstonhs@northwestern.edu or visit Parr's website.

Only We Who Guard the Mystery Shall Be Unhappy

Next Theatre Company hosts an election-weekend reading of Tony Kushner's new play-in-progress, Only We Who Guard the Mystery Shall Be Unhappy. The play focuses on First Lady Laura Bush. In the first scene, Mrs. Bush reads "The Brothers Karamazov" to the ghosts of Iraqi children; in scene two, the First Lady argues with Kushner himself about the place of politics in art. Next's reading features an all-star cast of Chicago theatre types: Steppenwolf artistic director Martha Lavey plays Laura, Writers' Theatre artistic director Michael Halberstam plays Kushner, and the role of the Angel goes to Northlight Theatre artistic director BJ Jones. The reading will be followed by a discussion panel with the cast, moderated by Next artistic director Jason Loewith. 6pm, Next Theatre Company at the Noyes Cultural Center, 927 Noyes Street in Evanston (right next to the Noyes stop on the Purple Line). A $10 suggested entry donation goes to the League of Women Voters. Reservations are encouraged; call 847-475-1875, ext. 4.