Alexander Christopher Williams Pygmy Lush 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.

Frank Maugeri had been with Redmoon Theater for 23 years when it collapsed in December 2015. He’d worked his way up from volunteer to producing artistic director at the Chicago-based company, known for its inventive urban spectacles performed everywhere from neighborhood streets to the White House and involving everything from an otherworldly river procession to a fantasia built around a nonexistent Norwegian pop star. And he most definitely loved it. Redmoon, the 49-year-old Maugeri told me during a recent phone interview, “fit my spiritual nature, it fit my emotions, it fit my community-galvanizing impulses, and it fit my need and desire to create ritual....

Davide Laffe Bianca Del Rio was crowned queen queen. Finales are hard, you guys—don’t worry, I’m not going to get into the minefield of series finales (HIMYM is still dead to me). I’m talking about season finales, which, depending on the type of show—sitcom, reality show, or whatever in hell The Bachelor is these days—can vary from your standard cliffhanger (think Scandal or, going way back, Dallas) to declaring the deserving winner on a talent-based competition (definitely not the last season of Top Chef)....

The Annoyance Theatre is a low-key haunt where improvisers and other comedians incubate new, unexpected material. Sharing DNA with Antoinette Nwandu’s critically acclaimed drama Pass Over, the comedic sketch show Teen Cudi Presents Black Boy Joy showcases young black men as lighthearted, silly, and carefree—a rare and refreshing take to see onstage or -screen. Written and performed by up-and-coming comedians Devin Middleton and Jordan Stafford and directed by Atra Asdou, this show strikes the perfect balance, sending up race with levity without pulling punches....

There aren’t college courses on how to put together a stand-up show. Even at famed Chicago institutions such the Second City and iO or within Columbia College’s comedy studies program, the lessons are much more about what’s happening onstage rather than what’s happening behind the scenes. So how does anyone learn the ropes when it seems like the most common training available to an aspiring comedy producer is taking tickets at a box office?...

Martha in her final resting place: the Smithsonian Institution 2014 is the year of the passenger pigeon. Not that any passenger pigeons are around to appreciate this fact: the last one, Martha, died in the Cincinnati Zoo exactly a century ago, on September 1, 1914. What makes the extinction of the passenger pigeon particularly tragic is that less than 50 years before Martha’s death, there were millions, even billions, of passenger pigeons in North America....

A&E Who wouldn’t want to spend seven days alone with this fella? The lord giveth, the lord taketh away. And vice versa. In episode one we met Billy and Jeanne, a couple who’ve been dating online for six months but haven’t met because he lives on Long Island and she’s in southern California. Granted, six months isn’t a very long time to get to know a person, but once the two have been locked up together, there’s almost no indication they know each other at all; they might as well be strangers....

It’s one of those fantastical I-can’t-believe-this-is-happening-even-as-I’m-writing-that-it’s-happening stories: Dick Simpson has applied to replace Langdon Neal as commissioner on the Board of Elections. Hey, man, I’m just keeping it simple for my easily distracted and bamboozled fellow citizens of Chicago. In any event, Neal recently decided to step down from the election board. Sorry, got a little carried away. You can’t ask for more than that. Good luck, Professor Simpson.

Bad Wolf Coffee We food writers never feel so loved as when our inboxes are full of Valentine’s Day pitches from PR people. We have lots of events for Valentine’s Day, and a few against it; one of them will be just right for you and your sweetie. Starting with the picture above, from Bad Wolf Coffee’s baker extraordinaire, Jonathan Ory (who I wrote about here), $65 gets you a whole box of his wonderful handmade treats including a chocolate-raspberry cake, macaroons, marshmallows, and his much-loved, quick-to-sell-out chocolate caneles....

Afrobeat scion Seun Kuti turned 35 early this year, and he’s already nearly two decades into his career. In 1997, when he was just 14, he took the reins of Egypt 80, his father Fela Anikulapo Kuti’s explosive working band. I was thrilled by his promise when he first surfaced internationally in 2006, and by the time he made his Chicago debut the following year, he had settled into the leadership role with amazing ease, casting a lithe, dynamic figure and dripping charisma while maintaining the band’s agile fire....

Courtesy of matthewf01 via Wikipedia Smashing Pumpkins at Primavera 2007 “The world’s on fire, have you heard?” sings Billy Corgan on the first taste from the Smashing Pumpkins’ forthcoming album, Monuments to an Elegy. The Highland Park-based songwriter promised last March that two new Smashing Pumpkins albums would see the light of day in 2015, but more recently the first of the pair got bumped up to December 9, just in time for the holidays....

Throughout the long run of Cocktail Challenge we’ve been continually impressed by the ingenuity of the bartenders who, challenged to create a cocktail with ingredients that have no place in a decent drink, come up with something clever, beautiful, and often even delicious. Here are a few of our favorites. Kristin Wolfel, catnip, “Careless Whiskers” Tasked with an ingredient more commonly enjoyed by cats than humans, Wolfel opted to create a drink for her own cat, Stella, “so I don’t have to drink alone on Friday nights anymore,” she said....

Gossip Wolf doesn’t know squat about meteorology, but you don’t have to be Tom Skilling to forecast that wherever Windy City Soul Club set up their turntables, there’s gonna be high humidity and a whole lot of butt shaking! For ten years, WCSC have been getting crowds moving with rare northern-soul 45s—and building massive pyramids out of the beer cans that the DJs and their crew inevitably drain during their legendary six-hour tag-team sets....

Mike Sula Buffalo wings, Ravenswood Q UPDATE: After I posted this, I learned that Larry Tucker left Ravenswood Q before my visit, which explains a lot. I still stand by what I said about the barbecue, and offer my apologies to Mr. Tucker. Mike Sula Baby back ribs, Ravenswood Q An order of smoked buffalo wings was more encouraging. While not aggressively sauced or crispy, they were saturated in wood smoke, and immediately brought me back to that first chicken....

Since you’re well rested and ready to head to Union Park with plenty of time to spare, you can plan your last day at Pitchfork on your own, right? You don’t need to consult these hour-by-hour itineraries for ideas. Not even a little. You’re just going to read them because they might be funny!—Philip Montoro Leor Galil Reader staff writer 2:30 PM Scream at the sky (and get emotional, of course) watching Deafheaven....

After three months of earth-shaking EDM extravaganzas, sprawling grab-bag festivals packed with indie pop, hip-hop, or alt-rock, and neighborhood block parties headlined by Better Than Ezra (or by local bands covering Better Than Ezra), the prospect of attending yet another music festival might feel about as exciting as getting a student-loan statement—”What, this nonsense isn’t over with yet?” But Riot Fest has set itself apart and created its own excitement: since it transformed itself from a multivenue bash into an outdoor extravaganza in 2012, its lineup has been jammed with dozens and dozens of well-known punk and alternative bands, many of whom aren’t on the usual stateside summer-festival circuit....

When the groups first met, the players had to weather some culture shock. Christopher Wheeldon’s Swan Lake first opened in 2004 as a special commission for the Pennsylvania Ballet. At the Joffrey this fall, it receives its third treatment. Though the English choreographer’s version isn’t his most acclaimed full-length ballet—that would be this year’s The Winter’s Tale, Wheeldon’s dance adaptation of Shakespeare’s play—his spin on the Tchaikovsky perennial is interesting....

Asked to explain the logic behind launching Riot Fest’s online magazine, managing editor Ben Perlstein calls the approach “the reverse Pitchfork.” He explains: “They got the website and then the festival. We had a festival and then the website.” Riot Fest founder Mike Petryshyn had been hoping to expand Riot Fest’s website for some time, and after Perlstein mentioned last winter that he’d been wanting to jump from artist management into a more creative career, Petryshyn offered him the editor’s chair at the new Riot Fest Magazine....

Since forming in 2011, San Francisco quartet Cool Ghouls have made a virtue of no-frills consistency, doing little to disguise their devotion to 60s garage pop. Loose, chiming guitars ring out over chugging rhythms, but it’s their singing—which borrows from the early Beach Boys without sweating shortcomings in pitch or precise harmony—that makes each album a keeper. Cool Ghouls have definitely gotten better with time. On last year’s terrific Animal Races (Empty Cellar) melodies are catchier than ever—during a song like “Sundial” vocal parts hit with assurance, their three-part harmonies cutting through a charmingly shambolic din....