Gapers Block has ceased publication.
Gapers Block published from April 22, 2003 to Jan. 1, 2016. The site will remain up in archive form. Please visit Third Coast Review, a new site by several GB alumni.
✶ Thank you for your readership and contributions. ✶
TODAY
Sunday, May 5
Slowdown
BY DAY
Friday, September 20 2013
Park(ing) Day
The annual Park(ing) Day festivities happen today from 8am to 9pm in parking spaces outside Cole's Bar, 2338 N. Milwaukee Ave. Help Architecture for Humanity Chicago turn the parking spaces into temporary public parks, and add your creative touch to a collection of stools that will be auctioned at a later fundraising event. Details on Facebook. Free.
EXPO CHICAGO @ Navy Pier
The second annual EXPO CHICAGO, the International Exposition of Contemporary and Modern Art, opens for the fall art season today at Navy Pier's Festival Hall (600 E. Grand Avenue). This three day convention features a broad spectrum of modern and contemporary artwork from over 125 top international galleries. Studio Gang Architects' Jeanne Gang designed this year's clever floor plan, patterned after Chicago's gridded streets and lined with gallery exhibitions. The 2013 redesign also includes EXPO VIDEO, featuring modern and contemporary video artwork. 11am - 7pm. One day pass is $20 and three day weekend pass is $30.
Steppin' Under the Stars @ DuSable Museum
The DuSable Museum, 740 E. 56th Pl., presents "Steppin' Under the Stars," tonight from 6pm-9pm. This free event, the final one in the series, will feature the best in Chicago "steppin'" dance moves and music by V103's Herb Kent and others. For more information, please call 773-955-5610.
Wicker Park After Dark @ Jackson Junge
Jackson Junge Gallery, 1389 N. Milwaukee Ave., opens Wicker Park After Dark, an exhibition of photography by David Szpunar, with a reception tonight from 6 to 9pm. Szpunar will be there, and refreshments will be served. Free.
Taste America @ Union Station
The Great Lakes region gets a culinary spotlight tonight at Union Station (500 W. Jackson), 6-9pm. The menu will be created by a bevy of chefs, among them Richard Blais of Top Chef, Andrew Zimmerman (Sepia), Alex Young (Zingerman's Roadhouse, Ann Arbor); Jonathan Sawyer (The Greenhouse Tavern, Cleveland); Paul Virant (Vie); Tony Mantuano (Bar Toma, Spiaggia); Gale Gand (Tru); Chris Pandel (Balena); Giuseppe Tentori (Boka); and Patrick Fahy (Sixteen). If you can't swing the $300 admission for that meal, try the lighter "Night Bites" menu ($75), which will be prepared by folks from Telegraph, Lillie's Q, and Nightwood, among others (if you want to try both menus, it's $350). Cocktails by the Violet Hour and Steve Dolinsky of ABC7 emcees.
Taste of Chicago Sister Cities: Slow Food @ Irish American Heritage Center
The Gage and Quartino Ristorante & Wine Bar are among the chefs cooking up an Irish storm in the name of Galway (one of Chicago's sister cities) today at the Irish American Heritage Center (4626 N. Knox) at 6pm. Your $50 admission covers food tastings and two drinks.
Naked Girls Reading
Naked Girls Reading holds its fifth annual "So You Wanna Be a Naked Girl" event, aka amateur night, tonight at the Everleigh Social Club, 939 W. Randolph St. Watch as nude women read books aloud (banned books this time around) on comfy chairs and sofas -- and in the case of the wannabes, compete for prizes. Doors open at 6:30, show starts promptly at 7pm. Tickets are $20 or two for $35. 21+
Englewood Jazz Festival
The Englewood Jazz Festival runs Sept. 19-21 at the Hamilton Park Cultural Center, 513 W. 72nd St. Tonight the festival features the world premiere of a new work for the Live the Spirit Big Band: A Dream Come True or a Dream Deferred?, composed by Ernest Dawkins with words by Khari B., at 7pm. Admission is free, but donations encouraged.
Disappears (Record Release), Weekend, Outside World @ Empty Bottle
Disappears need little introduction for anyone with at least half a lobe tuned to Chicago's music scene (to speak nothing of Sonic Youth-drummer fanboys), and tonight they release their excellent, kraut-caterwaul of a fourth LP, Era. We won't be missing this one, and you shouldn't either. Weekend and local janglersOutside World open. Show starts at 9:30pm, 21+. Tickets are $12 in advance and are available here.
SVT 2.0: Dustin Wong and CAVE @ Hideout
Night two of SVT 2.0, a special three-night celebration at the Hideout in honor of the two-year anniversary of the Strange Victory Touring Company, features the virtuosic Dustin Wong and Chicago's own CAVE. Wong's melodic, looped-and-layered instrumental compositions should provide a hallucinogenic digestif to CAVE's frenzied psychedelia. Doors open at 9pm. Show begins at 10pm. Tickets are $10. 21+
