I grew up to understand that slavery was horrendous and the Civil War a slaughter house, and one of the most noble moments in American history occurred when Grant said to Lee, “Keep your sword.” The bloodletting was done with, the slaves were freed, and the task ahead was to reconcile north and south, which meant the white people who’d hated each other. And so America did. In the decades ahead, the battles pitting Blue forces against Gray would be college all-star football games....

AP Photo/Paul Beaty Against the Tigers on Saturday, Adam Dunn gave Jose Abreu’s back a high-ten as he made sure he didn’t miss the plate after hitting his final homer as a White Sox. If you just got back to town after the Labor Day weekend, you may have noticed something missing: Adam Dunn. Dunn is a one-tool player. He had a few escapades in the field here, but mostly DH’d....

The last time Stacy Keach tried this, things didn’t go well. Like most solo shows involving a visit with a historical figure, Pamplona never answers the obvious, elephant-not-in-the-room question, Who does Hemingway think he’s talking to? You simply have accept the premise and settle in for a chipper, mostly sentimental 90-minute journey that, thanks to Adam Fleming’s projections, sometimes feels like a PowerPoint presentation. The ending completes an inevitable metaphor in an inevitable way, but Keach engages it with such gusto that it’s a delight to witness....

Julia Thiel Strawberry-allspice-quassia purl Analogue, the new Logan Square cocktail bar and restaurant from Violet Hour vets Robert Haynes and Henry Prendergast, has been open for about a month now, but I didn’t make it there until last Friday. It’s a modern, minimalist joint, almost as well hidden as the Violet Hour: there’s no sign outside, and the windows are painted black, making it look a lot like an abandoned storefront....

Jane Neumann Governor Pat Quinn at last night’s Sox-Cubs game on the south side. It was a beautiful evening for baseball, finally, so the governor and I decided to take in the White Sox-Cubs game at U.S. Cellular. In the middle of the fourth inning, my wife nudged me and whispered, “Isn’t that the governor in front of us?” “But why in the upper deck?” The game itself was a tedious affair....

With Mayor Emanuel on the ropes over his handling of the Laquan McDonald shooting, a day doesn’t pass without some excited rumor of political insurrection or mayoral retreat. For that matter, you all had your chance to bounce Rahm—and you blew it! Oh, I can hear your excuses. You’d probably still be electing him if he hadn’t gotten tired of the gig and walk away. “Who’s he running against?” “Have you ever seen Detroit?...

Courtney Chavanell American Sharks 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.

Like many little girls, Dianne Martinez dreamed of becoming a dancer. But in Brighton Park, the southwest-side neighborhood where she grew up, there wasn’t anywhere where she could take ballet lessons. The nearest Park District facility was in McKinley Park, and it didn’t offer dance. The local private studio was too expensive, and she couldn’t explore options in other neighborhoods because her mother didn’t drive. She finally got her dance lessons as a student at Curie High School, and she loved them....

Local roots-reggae five-piece Akasha expertly blend heavy dub grooves and the creamy vocals of singer Cosmos Ray. Their new album, Mother of Exiles, drops on Friday, December 7, on long-running Jamaican-inspired label Jump Up Records, and it features their most stridently political material yet. According to Ray, the album “addresses complex issues such as immigration, discrimination, and oppression, but with an approach infused by love, service, and unity.” On Thursday, December 6, Akasha celebrate with a free live set at the Whistler as part of the Simmer Down Sound reggae party, which also includes DJs the Graduate, Rad Brian, MarcusIyah, and King Tony....

Mike Sula Ceviche mixto, in the cruel light of the iPhone I was right chuffed when I read the menu description for the ceviche mixto at Logan Square’s aptly named Ceviche, a new Peruvian restaurant from the folks behind the well-established and well-liked Ay Ay Picante. Not only are the actual menus from Ay Ay Picante itself employed here, but the classic dish is said to be composed of a “variety of seafood and tilapia,” as if the proprietors recognize that tofu with fins, as the Houston Chronicle once put it, doesn’t really count as seafood....

Welcome to the Reader‘s morning briefing for Thursday, February 2, 2017. Rahm hosts dinner for DREAMers at his home Mayor Rahm Emanuel followed through on his promise to host undocumented DREAM students for a dinner at his house in support of Chicago’s sanctuary city status. Emanuel, first lady Amy Rule, and their children were joined for dinner by Cardinal Blase Cupich, four students from Mexico, a student from India, and a student from Nigeria....

QA straight male friend practices sounding and has for years. I am pretty sure he does other things that he isn’t telling anyone about—not even his wife. He has some medical questions about sounding. I am a pediatric nurse, so he brought his concerns to me, but the questions are totally outside my area of expertise. Nothing emergency-room-worthy is going on, but he needs answers and refuses to speak with his regular MD about sounding....

For a moment back in 2013 it looked like fourth-wave emo was going to lose one of its brightest lights after Tigers Jaw’s label Run for Cover issued a statement announcing that the Scranton group were calling it a day following the departure of three of their five members. Thankfully, the split didn’t take. And last month Tigers Jaw fulfilled what I’d seen as their big-time destiny, or at least their breakthrough as it’s measured in big-I industry terms: they released an album called Spin through Black Cement, a new Atlantic Records imprint helmed by Pennsylvania punk guru Will Yip....

Since her chirpy single “Fidelity” from Begin to Hope became an unlikely earworm in 2007, Regina Spektor has been beloved by the cultural cognoscenti and celebrities alike, even though she hasn’t a produced a single as massive since. It’s a rare win for someone operating within her own sui generis sphere, where classical sophistication commingles with childlike singsonging and dark lyrics about heartbreak, regret, and the ugliness of politics and corporations....

“I like the otherworldly feel to this comic. Plus the flowing, colorful artwork and a narrative that meanders in a good way.”—Eric Kirsammer, our Comics Issue curator, on why he chose Manning’s comic (CLICK ON AN IMAGE TO READ A COMIC)

Warning: This review contains spoilers. All this changes when the characters go to Sweden for Joe to accept his Nobel Prize, and The Wife starts uncovering some uncomfortable truths about the author. First, Joe behaves increasingly like a passive-aggressive jerk toward David; he provides his son with only the most basic feedback on his writing until pressured to say anything more, at which point the father becomes stingingly negative. Then, during an argument between the author and his wife, Joan brings up the fact that Joe has cheated on her repeatedly throughout their marriage....

Trevor is in big trouble. Any 13-year-old is at risk of pariahhood, of course. Pubescence is cruel. But with his jazz-hands dance moves, gym-class cluelessness, fey mannerisms, and full-out idolatry of Diana Ross, Trevor’s got FRESH VICTIM written all over him. What’s more, it’s 1981: nobody’s giving anti-bullying seminars or gender diversity workshops. Kids at mythical suburban Lakeview Junior High have only two categories available to them: normal and weird. And weird is lonely....

In the days since Mayor Emanuel jacked up property taxes, I’ve been fielding calls from millennials wanting to know how much more they’ll have to pay. Last month, Mayor Emanuel got the City Council to raise the property tax levy—how much the city spends—by roughly $588 million. You might think that it would be as simple as this: if your assessed value goes up, your taxes go up. Oh, if it were that simple!...

What we think of as “folk music” is generally played on traditional acoustic instruments, but as technology weaves itself ever more inextricably into human lives, electronics have become as much “of the people” as fiddles or nylon-string guitars—maybe even more so. Producer, performer, and multimedia artist Tieraney Carter (who runs the video blog URL GURL) calls herself a “digital folk artist,” and the eclectic music she creates as Wizard Apprentice uses lo-fi electronics, looping pedals, and clean, melodic vocals....