Alshaibi (far left) in American Arab Last night the 21st Chicago Underground Film Festival closed with Usama Alshaibi’s American Arab, a documentary profile of various Arab immigrants and the American-born children of Arab parents. It’s the former Chicagoan’s second personal documentary (after Nice Bombs, from 2006), as well as the least confrontational work this longtime provocateur has made. (For more on his development, check out the conversation we posted last week between Alshaibi and local filmmaker Carlos Jiménez Flores....

Michael Gebert Pecking Order, which closed this weekend I remember talking with some other food writers, a year and a half ago or so, about one of the pressing questions of the day: where were the flops? Things were opening fast and furiously, often in the form of very large and well-funded restaurants on Randolph Street or in Logan Square, and yet nothing ever seemed to close. Nothing old gave up the ghost, nothing new failed to make it....

Q I’m an old guy, fast approaching geezerdom. After 45 years of marriage to the same woman, the sex has fallen off to zero. We otherwise have a great and comfortable relationship. If I want any at all these days, the only options are masturbation or professional service providers. I was very nervous the first time I paid for sex. Curiously and surprisingly, considering my Christian upbringing, I didn’t feel at all guilty....

Ghostbusters 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.

But I want trofie!,” I pouted and figuratively stamped the floor when I saw there was no pasta on the menu at Good Measure, a tight new River North barstaurant from Sophie de Oliveira, a sibling in a Chicago cocktail family dynasty that includes her brother Daniel, spirits-brand manager about town, and sister Jacyara (El Che). Along with her is chef Matt Troost, who’s mounting a comeback after stepping away a year and a half ago from West Town pasteria the Charlatan, which closed three months after his departure....

The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby Reeling: The Chicago LGBT International Film Festival opens Friday at Music Box with the romantic comedy Boy Meets Girl; check out our sidebar for reviews of eight features screening this week. That same night the Chicago Romanian Cultural Marathon kicks off at Facets Cinematheque, with four Romanian features making their Chicago premieres over the weekend; three of them are even subtitled! Our coverage is here....

After spending pretty much my entire summer immersed in Grateful Dead culture, I discovered a huge collection of Dead covers by Ryan Adams, and one thing became very clear to me: Adams can do a great fucking cover tune. So when I heard about him covering Taylor Swift’s 1989 front to back, I was immediately interested. A track from the record leaked yesterday, Adams’s rendition of recent smash single “Bad Blood,” and it’s today’s 12 O’Clock Track....

Few grassroots Chicago hip-hop artists play as well with others as Clinton Sandifer, aka ShowYouSuck. His collaborations tend to turn into friendships, and those friendships lead to new collaborations—not just in hip-hop but also in punk, pop, indie rock, experimental R&B, electronic music, and even stand-up comedy. His warmth, positivity, and enthusiasm act as catalysts for all sorts of genre-crossing hybrids that might not exist without him. Hood Internet producer Steve Reidell recruited Show for his group’s 2012 album Feat—specifically “Nothing Should Be a Surprise,” which also features Arizona rapper Isaiah Toothtaker....

Via Twitter ESPN commentator Stephen A. Smith Sometimes, it’s not that complicated. Then there’s the debate about that famed literary honor—the Man Booker Prize. Americans are eligible now, and last week the first Americans ever were nominated. But there’s been grumbling. A letter to the New York Times argued the “inherent unfairness of the new arrangements.” Now American authors have one more prestigious award and financial jackpot (£50,000) to shoot for, and it’s that much harder for writers in smaller countries to catch a break....

I was only mildly aware of the band Toto on the Tuesday in May when my dad was diagnosed with terminal cancer. I’m a child of the 80s, and we all know at least “Africa.” It was an omnipresent hit in the early days of MTV, when music videos were low-budget affairs: usually stitched-together concert footage, surrealistic short films, or a disjointed combination of the two. My relationship to Toto changed suddenly and permanently on May 30, the day doctors delivered my father, Mark, a surprising but unequivocal death sentence....

Run and Jump from the European Union Film Festival If you’ve never sampled the European Union Film Festival at Gene Siskel Film Festival, you’re missing out on some of the best international cinema to roll through Chicago all year. It doesn’t stop for long, either, before rolling off again—none of the films screen more than twice, and while a handful might return to town later in commercial release, most of them never screen here again....

There are plenty of shows, films, and concerts happening this week. Here’s some of what we recommend: Wed 7/25: Caleb Willitz perpetually refines his pensive folk-rock sound by working with some of Chicago’s strongest improvisers. 9 PM, Cafe Mustache, 2313 N. Milwaukee, $5, 21+

Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer Chicago has spent the last couple weeks preparing for Halloween, and there have been no shortage of horror movies on the city’s repertory schedule, but aside from one or two exceptions, locally shot and produced offerings have been absent. Plenty of great films have been shot and set in Chicago, and horror films are no exception. Personally, I’d like to see a Music Box of Horrors/Terror in the Aisles-esque movie marathon dedicated to locally shot horror movies, of which there are dozens of worthy titles....

Reuben Atlas Hypnotic Brass Ensemble performing at the Shrine On Monday night at 10 PM, WTTW will screen Reuben Atlas’s Brothers Hypnotic, a lively, music-soaked documentary about the Chicago-bred Hypnotic Brass Ensemble. The group, which moved to New York in 2006, consists of eight sons fathered by trumpeter, bandleader, composer, and visionary Phil Cohran—an early member of the Sun Ra Arkestra, a cofounder of the AACM, and the man behind the Affro-Arts Theater....

University of Illinois Press Chicago, as the cliche goes, is a city of neighborhoods. New York likes to make this claim too, as do Saint Louis and Seattle and probably every other city in America that can be subdivided into distinct areas, each with its own special cultural and architectural character that attracts its own special stereotypical resident, easily identified by race, ethnicity, age, social class, and degree of hipsterdom....

You know about the largest food event happening downtown this weekend, so let’s go straight to the second largest: the Windy City Smokeout, a barbecue, beer, and (mostly country) music fest taking place at Grand and the Chicago river, which food-wise will include barbecue from locals like Smoque, Chicago Q, Lillie’s Q, and Bub City, as well as visiting teams from Austin’s the Salt Lick and “winningest man in barbecue” Myron Mixon....

Sound issues, poor sight lines, and overstuffed schedules can make outdoor music festivals a drag. But the unexpected blast of rain that hit the Pitchfork Music Festival on Saturday afternoon added an extra layer of irritation, turning the fields into mud traps for the free gigantic carpet squares attendees dragged around Union Park all weekend.

Anthony Tahlier Paella Cook-Off 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.

Courtesy Getty Images World Naked Bike Ride 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.

Rapper Smino grew up in Saint Louis and still reps the place, even though he’s now firmly grounded in Chicago. It’s where he met several members of his crew, Zero Fatigue, including one of his closest collaborators, wunderkind producer Monte Booker. Booker produced all of Smino’s new Blk Juptr EP, and their chemistry injects a range of colors into the luminous cuts. The instrumentals chatter and hum, reverberating with intimacy and quietly blossoming as Booker arranges and rearranges his minimal palette....