The power couple: Lynn Rondeau, 45, and Katy Bird, request for age denied!Years together: 17Occupations: Lynn’s a producer at a postproduction recording studio; Katy’s a professor and mathematician. Lynn: Yes. We do very well as long as we’ve got plenty of coffee for the morning start, and possibly some bacon. Katy: Lynn is the DJ of the house because I can’t remember the names of any songs written after 1986....
Plenty of metal bands use horror to sharpen their fangs, but few are as transparent about their interest in courting pop music with goblins and ghouls as Finland’s Lordi. And few have been as successful as Lordi. In 2006 the band performed dressed in elaborate monster costumes—as is their signature—for the long-running, multinational Eurovision Songwriting Contest. Long-haired front man Mr. Lordi wore platform boots, demonic battle armor, makeup that’s essentially a collection of deep gashes and horns, and black wings that emerged from his back during the breakdown of “Hard Rock Hallelujah,” a ballad filled with lyrical riffs on horror cliches....
Dorothée Munyaneza’s Unwanted begins with a woman telling the audience how cruel she is to her son. She mocks him. She beats him. She hates him. She never wanted him. He reminds her of the violence done to her. She can’t remember his father. It happened too many times. Another woman envisions her suckling infant as a hyena ravaging her body. Munyaneza gnashes her teeth together rhythmically, a hollow, dangerous sound....
If you hadn’t noticed, everything is still coming up Pharrell. His singles “Get Lucky” (with Daft Punk) and “Blurred Lines” (with Robin Thicke) were last year’s most inescapable songs. His hat game is now legendary. His tux game is impeccable. The 40-year-old producer, who’s been in the industry for nearly a quarter of a century, is suddenly the hottest thing in pop. G I R L is a thoroughly lightweight album, but it’s already gaining an importance that the breezy music doesn’t immediately suggest....
Eleni Mandell 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.
The hoped-for paradox of minimalism is that reduced means will result in maximum effect. No artist has accomplished this more completely than composer and filmmaker Phill Niblock, whose music intentionally eschews rhythm and melody in favor of massed, sustained tones. The beats that result when microscopically variant pitches are played at sufficient volume turn unchanging tones into dense clouds of constantly morphing sound. And while the 83-year-old New Yorker prefers the timbres of acoustic instruments, these transformative phenomena result in music that often sounds electronic....
Che “Rhymefest” Smith didn’t set out to perform at the Chicago Blues Festival. When Frayne Lewis, a programmer with the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, approached the rapper last fall, it was to brainstorm ideas to shake the festival up. “The Blues Fest was not evolving. It wasn’t evolving as you see Lollapalooza evolving,” Smith says. “I suggested connecting [with] Donda’s House—the organization that I’m a part of that does artist development for youth—[to help] young people reimagine the blues....
The Reader won a half-dozen awards, including three top prizes, at the 2017 Association of Alternative Newsmedia Awards, held last weekend in Washington, D.C. Winners were chosen from entries submitted by 67 alternative publications across North America. We don’t have a lengthy acceptance speech ready or anything. But below we’ve linked to the winners as announced by AAN. We hope the work speaks for itself. INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING circulation 45,000 & over...
Onions have been cultivated for at least 7,000 years. They’re one of the most common ingredients in almost every cuisine. So when Gabino “Bino” Ottoman of the Ruin Daily challenged Adam Wendt, chef at the soon-to-open Wicker Park restaurant the Delta, to build a dish around yellow onions, Wendt had his work cut out for him. “It’s kind of a crazy ingredient to be challenged with, because it literally goes into everything,” he says....
Ashlee Rezin/for Sun-Times Media Northside College Prep, at 5500 N. Kedzie, shown in February. In April, U.S. News online ranked Northside the No. 1 public high school in Illinois. Some of the highest-ranked public high schools in Illinois are Chicago schools. I’ve mentioned this from time to time, as have other local education writers. This year, U.S. News online, which ranks the public schools, deemed Chicago’s Northside College Prep the state’s top-ranked high school....
Tim and Eric and Dr. Steve Brule Tue 9/23-Wed 9/24, 8 PM, Athenaeum Theatre, 2936 N. Southport, 773-935-6860, athenaeumtheatre.com, 16+, sold out. Cameron Esposito and Rhea Butcher 10/14, 7 PM, Lincoln Hall, 2424 N. Lincoln, 773-525-2501, lincolnhallchicago.com, $15. 21+ Cameron Esposito and Rhea Butcher both cut their teeth in Chicago’s stand-up scene, and, along the way, grew pretty fond of each other. The pair are now engaged and live in LA, but will be swinging through town on the heels of the release of Esposito’s first album, Same Sex Symbol....
On Monday at 7:15 PM the Chicago Film Society and CHIRP Radio will present a rare 35-millimeter revival of Robert Altman’s Popeye at the Music Box Theatre. This is surely the most important revival screening of the week, a chance to see an unsung American masterpiece in the big-screen environment it deserves. (Incidentally, the week’s second-most important revival—Doc Films’ 35-millimeter presentation of Alan Rudolph’s Remember My Name, playing Thursday at 9:45 PM—was produced by Altman....
As soon as I saw the story about a Chinese political/real estate dynasty looking to cut a deal with its U.S. counterpart, I went looking for the local angle. I figured an arrangement this “creative” just had to have some sort of Chicago connection. And you thought Chicago was rife with nepotism. My favorite part of the real estate story comes when an unnamed White House press officer tells the Times that “these private-sector negotiations will not affect the Trump administration’s policies or approach with China in any way....
Ken Ilio Ron Dorfman Ron Dorfman died Monday in his home on North Sheridan Road. His body was found on the bathroom floor by his friend Vicki Quade, who had come to take him to a doctor’s appointment. Ron was days away from a risky operation on his failing heart, and it was because his health was so precarious that he recently made history in Illinois. Last December 13, thanks to judicial dispensation, he and his partner, Ken Ilio, got married....
You’d never mistake Merce Cunningham for a traditionalist. A tap dancer growing up, the striking, hollow-faced innovator of postmodern movement is credited with creating some of the most influential and radical dance-theater works of the mid to late 20th century. He did so until his death in 2009, at the age of 90. But he didn’t do it alone. “Common Time” induces an incredible, and in some ways subtle, realization of the scope and quality of the composite artistry of several of Cunningham’s masterpieces....
Q: I am a 35-year-old straight guy. I met a nice lady through the normal methods, and we hit it off and have grown closer. I think we are both considering “taking it to the next level.” We are on the same intellectual wavelength, enjoy the same social experiences, and have a lot of fun together. So what could be the problem? My friend decided it was the time to inform me that she is transgender, pre-op, and will not be having gender reassignment surgery....
Peter Holderness Karen Lewis and Ben at the Hideout on Tuesday night For Tuesday’s big show—Karen Lewis live at the Hideout—they gave me the hand-held mike and told me to sit in the middle of the table. But, alas, I saw that crowd of faces in the audience, and I just couldn’t pull the trigger. Which probably got the mayor so mad he had to be restrained from closing 50 more schools—just to show her!...
Flamenco, Flamenco A couple weeks ago I invoked the concept of “pure cinema” in a blog post I wrote about Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. As defined by Alfred Hitchcock, pure cinema refers to a director’s ability to communicate meaning through the orchestration of all aspects of filmmaking, not just storytelling or dialogue. I thought of this concept again last week when I watched Flamenco, Flamenco, a 2010 performance documentary that opens at the Gene Siskel Film Center this Friday for a weeklong run....
Looking for something to do today? Agenda‘s got you covered. A south-side staple, the African Festival of the Arts celebrates fashion, cuisine, spirituality, and art. The weekend includes performances by R&B songwriter Musiq Soulchild and jazz vocalist Dee Alexander in addition to a Temptations revue, a film tent, quilt-making sessions, and a drum village. The artists of Remix Chicago take the phrase “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure” to heart....
