Last week on WGN’s The Download, host Justin Kaufman asked local rapper William Dalton, aka the Boy Illinois, about what unites local MCs as Chicagoans. “I wouldn’t say it’s a sound per se—it’s a vibe and it’s a lingo,” Dalton said. He’s well-versed in the nuances that connect local rappers, despite the obvious sonic differences that make it tempting to sort them using specious categories—most notably the “Chief Keef vs. Chance the Rapper” duality that continues to dominate national discussion of the city’s scene....

This weekend, 90s alternative rock pioneers the Lemonheads are playing two shows in the suburbs, Fri 9/19 at Wire in Berwyn and on Sat 9/20 they headline Oaktoberfest in downtown Oak Park. Formed in 1987, this Boston trio quickly turned into the musical vehicle of singer and guitarist Evan Dando, who has spent almost 30 years surrounding himself with a revolving door of sharp, hard-hitting musicians, including Murph from Dinosaur Jr....

“I love to see how few solder joins I can get away with—it’s like a personal challenge,” she says. Her elegant designs have been picked up by stores such as Nordstrom, but currently Mooney prefers the intimacy of local markets.

M. Spencer Green/AP Bruce Rauner got the Trib‘s endorsement. I’ve never been whiplashed by a journalist the way I just was by Mark Jacob, the Tribune‘s deputy metro editor. I thought I remembered everything about that year of years, 1968, but in Sunday’s Trib, Jacob (and Stephan Benzkofer) offered “10 things you might not know about 1968,” and true enough, I didn’t know most of them. For example, I didn’t know Alexander Dubcek was conceived in Chicago until Jacob and Benzkofer told me so....

On a sweltering August morning at Swap-o-Rama there are cries from the sock vendors of “Siete por diez! Seven packs for ten!” Most of the goods at this enormous Back of the Yards flea market are priced low, attracting bargain hunters searching for deals on cowboy boots, children’s toys, phone cases, and windshield wipers. But there are also plenty of higher-end items for sale: power tools, kitchen mixers, a pair of child car seats (nestled between a chain saw and a vintage metal milk can), and bicycles, maybe a couple hundred total....

The Grand Lodge of the Independent Order of Svithiod sounds as though it would be imposing and a little frightening, like something out of Game of Thrones. It’s a bit of a disappointment to learn that “Svithiod” just means “Swedish” in Swedish, and that the Grand Lodge itself occupies half of a modest single-story building on the northwest side. “People don’t need this anymore,” she continues. “They don’t need people who speak Swedish....

I just released an international split seven-inch on my label, Gary Records, from the bands Hot & Cold (of Beijing and Toronto) and Skip Skip Ben Ben (of Taiwan). My heritage is Chinese and I spent my childhood in Taiwan. I also used to intern for this paper. The powers that be at the Reader decided to let me write a little something about my own release (a pretty obvious conflict of interest) because I had something to say about the new seven-inch in relation to the recent protests in Hong Kong—and because I had some pictures to back it up....

A growing number of musicians have mastered both notated and improvised music, but few have done it with more skill, insight, and sensitivity than pianist Cory Smythe. He won a classical Grammy for his work with star violinist Hilary Hahn, but he’s also become an integral part of groups led by percussionist and composer Tyshawn Sorey—another thrilling denizen of this rarefied turf—that improvise within Morton Feldman-inspired constellations of sound. On Planktonic Finales (Intakt) Smythe continues to destroy any and all borders that might otherwise separate his interests....

Record Store Day’s organizers originally promoted it as a celebration of the mom-and-pop shops that had survived music retail’s postpiracy nosedive while the likes of Sam Goody and Tower Records collapsed around them. But this international consumer “holiday” turns ten years old on Saturday, April 22, and as early as 2012 the Reader was already asking whether the whole production had jumped the shark. Record Store Day was starting to look like a way to transform brick-and-mortar stores into conduits for labels to feed overpriced limited-­edition vinyl to customers willing to stand in line for hours before anybody even powers up the cash registers....

For six years now, Riot Fest has been an outdoor spectacle, taking over a public park for days to celebrate “punk,” whatever that means in 2017—this year it runs from Friday, September 15, through Sunday, September 17. Riot Fest is now carrying on without cofounder and producer Sean P. McKeough, who died at age 42 in November. Spurred in part by McKeough’s passing, organizers discontinued Riot Fest’s Denver edition, leaving this hometown party the last one standing....

ARTIST: Carrie Vinarsky SHOW: Matchess and Ulla Straus at the International Museum of Surgical Science on Fri 7/27 MORE INFO: carrievinarsky.com

Mike Sula The mole bar at Cremeria La Ordeña #2 Back in October, when I wrote about the great southwest-side Guerrerense grocery Cremeria La Ordeña, owner Nicolas Aguado mentioned that he and partner Luciano Dominguez were scouting locations in Albany Park for a second spot to sell their hard-to-find cheeses, meats, beans, and moles. Yet I had no idea Ordeña #2 would top the original location in its amazing mole selection....

A few months back, a one-line e-mail dropped in the Space inbox: “I think my apartment is pretty sweet.” Not much to go on. My curiosity was piqued, however, so I got all Law & Order to find out what, exactly, was so sweet about it. Turns out Jonn Wallen’s West Town abode is pretty sweet, actually, boasting a collection of vintage electronics and a whole lotta wood. Wallen also has a penchant for wood—huge, solid wooden orbs rest on the floor, woodwork art hangs on the walls....

The selkie, in Celtic lore, are magical creatures formed from the souls of people drowned at sea. They’re capable of changing from seal to human by shedding their skins, which they must keep to change back. Chicago playwright Kristin Idaszak uses the legend of these shapeshifters as a jumping-off point for the three interlocking monologues that make up this evening of short, creepy tales. The beauty of Idaszak’s writing, though, is that she knows that the mundane horrors of everyday life are at least as terrifying as ghosts....

ARTIST: Andy Burkholder SHOW: DJ Manny, Moth Cock, Sold, and DJ Potions at Hideout on Wed 1/18 MORE INFO: andyburkholder.com

jphilipg/Wikimedia Commons Not all restaurant critics live here It takes a special kind of myopia to worry that restaurant reviewing is dying when more Americans are doing it than ever. (Online restaurant critic, the last job Americans will do.) But the old model—wherein the critic was an anonymous figure with the power to slam what needed to be slammed and the publication was big enough to (usually) withstand a restaurant’s fury without worrying about being cut off from access for future stories—has become rarer, although it survives in a few places (like this publication)....

Pulitzer Prize-winning Miami Herald columnist Leonard Pitts Jr. is author of the best-selling novels Before I Forget and Freeman, the memoir Becoming Dad, and Forward From This Moment: Selected Columns, all of which have been released by Bolden—the African-American imprint of Agate, based in Evanston. The significance of such an accomplished author continuing to publish with a small independent press isn’t lost on Agate founder Doug Seibold. “When a writer like Leonard says I want to stay with you and keep working with you, it’s really important,” he says....

Chicago rapper and prison abolitionist Ric Wilson has ambition to spare. On his self-released 2016 EP, Soul Bounce, he traverses instrumentals inspired by bachata, British house, or arena EDM, and his loquacious, blustery performances sometimes feel aggressively out of sync with the bustling patchwork of beats—but he’s smart enough to use that tension to fuel his hooks. Wilson streamlines his sound on the new self-released EP Negrow Disco, for which tonight’s show—his first headlining gig ever—is a release party....

Public Domain Ernest and Mary Hemingway Looking for something to do today? Agenda‘s got you covered. For more on these events and others, check out the Reader‘s daily Agenda page.