Print Issue of August 9, 2018 (Volume 47, Number 44)

C H I C A G O ’ S F R E E W E E K LY S I N C E 1 9 7 1 | A U G U S T 9, 2 0 1 8

‘THIS IS A MARCH OF CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE’ Scenes from last week’s protest that shut down Lake Shore Drive

By OLIVIA OBINEME

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THIS WEEK

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PHOTO FEATURE

DIVERSIONS

Last week’s protest march through Lakeview to Wrigley Field aimed to bring the city’s pain to the north side.

BY OLIVIA OBINEME 8

Five Black Panther fans put their heads together to create the first convention devoted to the superhero’s homeland.

BY MIKKI KENDALL 10

Shutting down the Drive

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MUSIC & NIGHTLIFE

The revolution will be livestreamed

Queen Key is gonna need a bigger crown

Webseries The Hoodoisie combines radical politics with dirty jokes.

BY BRIANNA WELLEN 13

The charismatic young rapper is ready to carve out a larger role for women in the city’s hip-hop scene.

BY LEOR GALIL 23

IN THIS ISSUE

CITY LIFE

4 Joravsky | Politics Trump the mad tweeter poses a dilemma for Governor Bruce Rauner.

ARTS & CULTURE

ON THE COVER: PHOTO BY OLIVIA OBINEME. FOR MORE OF OLIVIA ’S WORK, GO TO OLIVIAIOBINEME.COM.

Welcome to Wakanda

ENTERTAINMENT

6 Visual Art “Everyone’s a Designer/ Everyone’s Design” peeks into five fascinating Chicago homes.

16 Lit Fatimah Asgard’s poetry collection Then They Came for Us draws on her family’s history during the 1947 partition of India and Pakistan.

17 Theater Griffin Theatre’s The Harvest shows compassion toward everyone—even fundamentalists.

18 Theater Asian-American theater artists convene for six days of ConFest.

19 Theater The African Company Presents Richard III and more new stage shows, reviewed by our critics 20 Movies In Spike Lee’s latest, BlacKkKlansman, a cop infiltrates his local chapter.

22 Movies Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood and four more new releases

MUSIC & NIGHTLIFE

27 Up-and-comers Meet Chicago’s hottest openly gay 15-year-old rapper.

29 Shows of note Rico Nasty, Eleventh Dream Day, John Zorn’s Simulacrum, and more of the week’s best, including a boatload of festivals

FOOD & DRINK

33 Restaurant Review Wicker Park’s Ina May Tavern puts New Orleans in a bottle.

CLASSIFIEDS

35 Jobs 35 Apartments & Spaces 36 Marketplace 37 Savage Love A woman’s libido grows to alarming strength after she stops using birth control. Is this normal?

38 Early Warnings Alcest, the Hotelier, the Orb, and more shows of note in the weeks to come 38 Gossip Wolf Thirsty Ears Festival brings classical to the streets, while My House Music Festival makes with the beats.

AUGUST 9, 2018 - CHICAGO READER 3

CITY LIFE Rauner; Trump é JACQUELYN MARTIN/AP; RICK LOOMIS/GETTY

POLITICS

Rauner’s dilemma

Donald Trump poses a big problem for a Republican running for reelection. Trouble is, he’s also a godsend.

By BEN JORAVSKY

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f you want to know why Bruce Rauner doesn’t know what to say about Donald Trump, consider the fallout from the president’s latest twitter war juxtaposed with his proposed capital gains tax cut.

One of which got a ton of publicity, the other almost none at all.

The tweet storm has to do with LeBron James, superstar basketball player, and CNN news anchor Don Lemon.

For reasons unknown to rational human beings, Trump felt compelled to fire up his cell phone at roughly 10:30 last Friday night to tweet the following . . .

“Lebron [sic] James was just interviewed by the dumbest man on television, Don

4 CHICAGO READER - AUGUST 9, 2018

Lemon. He made Lebron look smart, which isn’t easy to do. I like Mike!”

In almost no time, the tweet had ignited a firestorm, with everyone from Melania Trump to Michael Jordan weighing in to defend LeBron, blast Trump, or both.

It was a typical Trump tweet. He frequently calls prominent black people dumb—it’s his way of letting his true believers know he’s unafraid to venture where normal politicians would not dare to go.

He throws in the line about liking Michael Jordan to suggest he’s not a racist—’cause he likes some black guys. As though anyone’s fooled.

In the aftermath, what’s a Republican

like Rauner supposed to do? If he criticizes Trump, he looks timid or “politically correct” to the Trumpheads who dominate Republican politics.

(And they’re already mad at Rauner for having signed HB 40, the abortion-rights bill.)

But if Rauner defends Trump, he risks alienating the civilized part of the world that doesn’t think it’s cool for a sitting president to make like a racist buffoon.

In this category, I’m hoping we’re talking about at least a majority of the American voters—even in swing states like Wisconsin and Michigan. But at the very least, it includes many suburban voters that Rauner needs to win if he has any chance of defeat-

ing J.B. Pritzker in November’s gubernatorial election.

Rauner’s challenge is that there are too many Democrats and moderate independents in Illinois to keep him from joining pols who are going full-on for Trump—like Ron DeSantis, the Republican running for governor in Florida.

DeSantis recently ran a TV commercial whose general theme is that he’s the biggest Trump brownnoser in the world—and proud of it!

It features h im reading chapters of Trump’s autobiography to his young child and helping the kid “build a wall” made of building blocks, while reminding everyone that the president has endorsed him.

Not surprisingly, DeSantis has surged to the top of the polls in Florida’s Republican gubernatorial primary.

Unable to go all-out like DeSantis, Rauner does the next best thing—embracing Trump’s vice president.

Think about this. Mike Pence is a far-right ideologue on women, gays, and reproductive rights.

Yet because the vice president is disciplined enough to refrain from tweeting racist bile, Rauner feels it’s OK to take the stage with him at a recent fund-raising event and call him “one of the greatest public servants in America today—one of the greatest leaders in American history.”

Hmm? Lincoln, Roosevelt, Eisenhower— Mike Pence?

Watching Rauner dance a political boogaloo around Trump is almost enough to make me feel sorry for him. As usual, the key word being almost.

Of course, in other ways, Trump’s exceedingly useful to Rauner—and that brings me to the capital gains tax cut.

Trump’s proposing to give a $100 billion tax cut to America’s wealthiest people by changing the way capital gains get calculated. (A capital gain is the profit from selling an asset, like stock or property.)

Say you purchased $100,000 worth of stock in 1980 and sold it today for $1 million. Under the current rules you’d pay a capital gains tax on $900,000 worth of profit.

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CITY LIFE Trump wants to adjust the original purchase price for inflation. To go back to our example, since $100,000 in 1980 is worth about $300,000 today, the president’s proposal would lower the taxable gain to $700,000. That amounts to a $40,000 tax break on this one deal, according to the New York Times.

Add up all the breaks on all the stock transactions and eventually we’re talking about a $100 billion or so tax break for the wealthy.

This is a twofold victory for Rauner Republicans.

One, obviously, it means more tax breaks for them, unlike most.

And two, it means less money for government. As I’ve written before, one of great missions of Republican “free market” ideologues like Rauner, Grover Norquist, and the Koch brothers is to starve government of the money it needs to function.

To quote Norquist: “The goal is to . . . get government down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub.”

If Rauner criticizes Trump, he looks timid or “politically correct” to the Trumpheads who dominate Republican politics. But if he defends Trump, he risks alienating the civilized part of the world that doesn’t think it’s cool for a sitting president to make like a racist buffoon.

Not surprisingly, Norquist is a key advocate of Trump’s capital gains cut proposal.

Of course, there are consequences to starving the federal government.

The less money the feds have, the more taxes municipalities and states must impose to compensate for federal cuts in law enforcement, road repair, education, etc.

The roads aren’t going to repair themselves, people.

In short, look for your property taxes to continue to go up, even as Rauner promises to keep them down.

Trump’s capital gains proposal is such a blatant break for the rich and such a bad deal for the rest of us that only a politician unconventional enough to start a Twitter war with LeBron James would dare to try and get away with it.

Trump may act like an idiot—but he’s a useful idiot. Especially for Republicans like Rauner. v

m @joravben

AUGUST 9, 2018 - CHICAGO READER 5

Artwork inside Patric McCoy’s North Kenwood condo é VAM STUDIOS

inal glory and have filled it with photographs and art made from photographs, including a collection of paper-doll cutouts. “This house is really defined by light and wood,” says Brier.

“The way the beveled windows catch the light, the wood trim. And photography is a medium of light.”

EVERYONE’S A DESIGNER/ EVERYONE’S DESIGN

Exhibition through 8/24: Mon-Fri 10 AM-4PM; public storytelling program Sat 8/18, 1:30-3:30 PM, Calumet Park Cultural Center, 9801 S. Avenue G, 312-422-5580, ilhumanities.org. F

House hunters

“Everyone’s a Designer/Everyone’s Design” peeks into the heart of some fascinating Chicago homes.

By AIMEE LEVITT

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here you live is, for better or for worse, an expression of who you are. Some people, though, are better at expressing themselves through design than others. The new traveling exhibit “Everyone’s a Designer/Everyone’s Design” celebrates five especially distinctive Chicago homes.

The staff at Illinois Humanities chose the five homes, each from a different corner of Chicago, and one which no longer exists.

Jennie Brier, a historian at the University of Illinois-Chicago, sat down with the homeowners for a recorded interview. The interviews will be screened at the exhibition, which will travel throughout the fall and winter to the neighborhood where each of the homes is located before concluding at the Chicago Cultural Center. It’s currently at the Calumet Park Cultural Center.

“It was an incredible thing to do, to go to

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different places, talk to people, see the neighborhoods,” says Brier. “In a couple of cases, the homes were built from almost nothing, and they were renovated in way that was so dramatic. It was also incredible to see how deeply heartfelt their experience of designing the interior of their home was, how it reflects who they are, what they think of the home, what they think about their role as residents in these homes.”

The homeowners are: Tim Heppner, trained as both a carpenter and an environmental scientist, renovated his house in South Chicago—originally built in 1875—to be a net-positive energy home. “He’s grown all the food he needed for a year, he collects water and sends it back into the wetland, he’s situated the house so it uses no purchased energy to function, whether it’s heating or water,” says Brier. “It works.”

Yolanda Anderson’s Victorian mansion is

known throughout Austin as “the Pink House.”

Her father painted it when the family moved in in the 1980s, and Anderson and her family have maintained the color scheme, both inside and out. The house has survived several fires.

“They’ve created an incredible world inside the space,” says Brier.

Patric McCoy’s condo in North Kenwood isn’t interesting because of any architectural features—Brier describes it as “completely ubiquitous”—but because of what it contains.

McCoy has covered every surface with work by contemporary African-American artists.

McCoy’s father wanted to be a painter, but he was turned away from art school after the administrators discovered he was black.

Now McCoy runs a program called Diasporal Rhythms devoted to appreciating the art of the African diaspora.

Mike and Karen Williams painstakingly restored their West Ridge bungalow to its orig-

The final home, the one that no longer exists, belonged to Francine Washington. It was an apartment in the now-demolished Stateway Gardens public housing project.

Washington was one of the first residents to move into Stateway Gardens in the 1950s and the last to leave in the ’90s. To Washington, Stateway Gardens was a real community, where everyone knew everyone else. When she moved into a new apartment there, she threw a party to repaint the walls, which were painted a dull, industrial color. “She described an incredible experience of watching people pass colors around, change colors, what it was like to transform a space that some people think of institutional and homogenous,” Brier says. “She said, ‘I need color in my life and I am going to put this color on the wall.’”

During each stop of the “Everyone’s a Designer/Everyone’s Design” tour, there will be a storytelling session hosted by Chicago’s cultural historian Tim Samuelson and designers Tim Parsons and Jessica Charlesworth during which visitors will be invited to bring in objects from their own homes and tell stories about them.

“It will be wonderful to have things from the east side, the west side, the north side, and the south side,” Brier says. “We know by every measure this is a segregated city. This is one of the opportunities for us to visit each other, to see what’s happening.” v

m @aimeelevitt

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ADVERTISEMENT

Why Haven’t Senior Homeowners Been Told These Facts?

Keep reading if you own a home in the U.S. and were born before 1955.

It’s a well-known fact that for many senior citizens in the U.S. their home is their single biggest asset, often accounting for more than 50% of their total net worth.

Yet, according to new statistics from the mortgage industry, senior homeowners in the U.S. are now sitting on more than 6.1 trillion dollars of unused home equity.1 With people now living longer than ever before and home prices back up again, ignoring this “hidden wealth” may prove to be short sighted.

All things considered, it’s not surprising that more than a million homeowners have already used a governmentinsured Home Equity Conversion Mortgage or “HECM” loan to turn their home equity into extra cash for retirement.

However, today, there are still millions of eligible homeowners who could benefit from this FHA-insured loan but may simply not be aware of this “retirement secret.”

Some homeowners think HECM loans sound “too good to be true.” After all, you get the cash you need out of your home but you have no more monthly mortgage payments.

NO MONTHLY MORTGAGE PAYMENTS?2 EXTRA CASH? It’s a fact: no monthly mortgage payments are required with a government-insured HECM loan;2 however the homeowners are still responsible for paying for the maintenance of their home, property taxes, homeowner’s insurance and, if required, their HOA fees.

Another fact many are not aware of is that HECM reverse mortgages first took hold when President Reagan

signed the FHA Reverse Mortgage Bill into law 29 years ago in order to help senior citizens remain in their homes.

Today, HECM loans are simply an effective way for homeowners 62 and older to get the extra cash they need to enjoy retirement.

Although today’s HECM loans have been improved to provide even greater financial protection for homeowners, there are still many misconceptions.

For example, a lot of people mistakenly believe the home must be paid off in full in order to qualify for a HECM loan, which is not the case. In fact, one key advantage of a HECM is that the proceeds will first be used to pay off any existing liens on the property, which frees up cash flow, a huge blessing for seniors living on a fixed income. Unfortunately, many senior homeowners who might be better off with HECM loan don’t even bother to get more information because of rumors they’ve heard.

That’s a shame because HECM loans are helping many senior homeowners live a better life.

In fact, a recent survey by American Advisors Group (AAG), the nation’s number one HECM lender, found that over 90% of their clients are satisfied with their loans.

While these special loans are not for everyone, they can be a real lifesaver for senior homeowners.

The cash from a HECM loan can be used for any purpose. Many people use the money to save on interest charges by paying off credit cards or other high-interest loans. Other common uses include making home

FACT: In 1988, President Reagan signed an FHA bill that put HECM loans into law.

improvements, paying off medical bills or helping other family members. Some people simply need the extra cash for everyday expenses while others are now using it as a “safety net” for financial emergencies.

If you’re a homeowner age 62 or older, you owe it to yourself to learn more so that you can make an informed decision. Homeowners who are interested in learning more can request a free 2018 HECM loan Information Kit and free Educational DVD by calling American Advisors Group toll-free at 1-(800) 840-3558.

At no cost or obligation, the professionals at AAG can help you find out if you qualify and also answer common questions such as: 1. What’s the government’s role?

2. How much money might I get?

3. Who owns the home after I take out a HECM loan?

You may be pleasantly surprised by what you discover when you call AAG for more information today.

Source: http://reversemortgagedaily.com/2016/06/21/seniors-home-equity-grows-to-6-trillion-reverse-mortgage-opportunity. 2If you qualify and your loan is approved, a Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) must pay off any existing mortgage(s). With a HECM loan, no monthly mortgage payment is required. A HECM increases the principal mortgage loan amount and decreases home equity (it is a negative amortization loan).

AAG works with other lenders and !nancial institutions that offer HECMs. To process your request for a loan, AAG may forward your contact information to such lenders for your consideration of HECM programs that they offer. When the loan is due and payable, some or all of the equity in the property no longer belongs to borrowers, who may need to sell the home or otherwise repay the loan with interest from other proceeds.

AAG charges an origination fee, mortgage insurance premium, closing costs and servicing fees (added to the balance of the loan). The balance of the loan grows over time and AAG charges interest on the balance.

Interest is not tax-deductible until the loan is partially or fully repaid. Borrowers are responsible for paying property taxes and homeowner s insurance (which may be substantial). We do not establish an escrow account for disbursements of these payments. A set-aside account can be set up to pay taxes and insurance and may be required in some cases. Borrowers must occupy home as their primary residence and pay for ongoing maintenance; otherwise the loan becomes due and payable. The loan also becomes due and payable when the last borrower, or eligible non-borrowing surviving spouse, dies, sells the home, permanently moves out, defaults on taxes or insurance payments, or does not otherwise comply with the loan terms. American Advisors Group (AAG) is headquartered at 3800 W. Chapman Ave., 3rd & 7th Floors, Orange CA, 92868.

(MB_0911141), (Illinois Residential Mortgage Licensee; Illinois Commissioner of Banks can be reached at 100 West Randolph, 9th Floor, Chicago, Illinois 60601, (312) 814-4500). V2017.08.23_OR

1

These materials are not from HUD or FHA and were not approved by HUD or a government agency.

AUGUST 9, 2018 - CHICAGO READER 7

Reverend Greg Livingston and protesters take a knee upon their arrival at Wrigley Field.

‘THIS IS A MARCH OF CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE’ Demonstrators on Lake Shore Drive

Scenes from last week’s protest that shut down Lake Shore Drive

By OLIVIA OBINEME

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Nineteen-year-old biracial twins Sydney (left) and Skylar (right) of Oak Park said they felt that if they weren’t marching they would be part of the problem.

“We’re privileged enough to live in an area where we're not affected by gun violence everyday,” said Skylar, a student at Butler University in Indiana.

ast Thursday protesters converged on Lake Shore Drive during rush hour and shut down traffic as they marched to Wrigley Field, where the Cubs were playing the Padres. Police estimated that 150 protesters proceeded to the ballpark, and while the organizers disputed that head count, they judged the event a success at “redistributing the [city’s] pain” by disrupting the streets full of buses, fans, and tourists.

“This was an excellent showing. It was a diverse crowd—red, yellow, brown, black, and white,” said co-organizer Reverend Greg Livingston, interim

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pastor at New Hope Baptist Church. “Chicago was intentionally segregated, and our purpose [is to] intentionally desegregate this city because we’re all one people.”

Co-organizer and anti-violence activist Tio Hardiman called for “more deescalation training of the police department and the immediate end to the killings of African-American youth” by police.

“This is a march of civil disobedience,” he said.

Meanwhile, officers on foot, horseback, and bicycles created a barricade on both sides of the Drive.

Starting at 4:30 PM, with temperatures in the 80s,

organizers mobilized marchers onto the roadway to formally express their demands that Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Chicago Police Department superintendent Eddie Johnson resign.

Police said there were no arrests made and no altercations reported.

“We’re marching together, we’re gathering together, we have demands together as a people,” community peace worker Ameena Matthews told the crowd.

Business as usual at a number of storefronts and offices was interrupted by the chants, drums, and whistles along Belmont Avenue and Clark Street.

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Community peace worker Ameena Matthews, above, urges marchers to be peaceful as they walk through the Lakeview neighborhood.

Brother Westside, 72, said he was dehydrated by the end of the protest, but that he felt it was necessary for him to show up: “I’m tired of seeing our babies dying and seeing our mothers crying.”

“If you’re not with us then you’re against us,” Matthews and fellow protesters chant.

Some Wrigleyville residents, like Joe Olszewski, a learning experience manager for a software company, watched from their apartment windows as the march proceeded down the block.

“I think this is exactly what people need to be doing at this time,” Olszewski said. “To cause a disruption to make things work, to make a change—that’s what these people are doing, and I’m here for it. This is one city, and everybody needs to fight for the same things.”

It took nearly two hours for the protesters to travel from Belmont to Wrigley Field. Outside the stadium, Livingston, Hardiman, and fellow marchers

took a knee for a moment of prayer while Cubs fans looked on from the stands.

Busses were still arriving as Hardiman and Livingston stood up.

“We had buses that dropped off people that didn’t even make it [to the ballpark on time] because they got held up,” said Livingston later. “Lollapalooza did the same thing to us that we did to everybody else: held them up, but that’s just life in the big city.” v

A row of bicycle police barricade the southbound lanes of Lake Shore Drive as protesters take over the both sides of the major roadway.

W @OliviaObineme m@oliviaobineme

AUGUST 9, 2018 - CHICAGO READER 9

First place Beginner Cosplay contest winner Kevin Wilson dressed as Zuri

WELCOME TO

Wakanda It’s not just the home of Black Panther—it’s the world’s most successful and self-reliant black community.

By MIKKI KENDALL Photos by NIKKI LOEHR

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ast Friday the lower level of the Hilton Chicago was transformed into a mini Wakanda. Lollapalooza might have been happening upstairs and across the street, but Wakandacon was in full swing downstairs. A small but devoted crowd of a few hundred people came to re-create the homeland of Black Panther.

As someone who regularly attends and volunteers at science fiction and comic conventions, I was curious about what would bring people to a brand-new event on a busy weekend. On Friday night there was a smattering of attendees in costumes, Van Jones and his children were roaming around, and the marketplace was just getting set up. Though many were gravitating to the room set up for computer games, there were some people who were clearly there to work. Dressed in suits

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and business-casual dresses and seemingly ready for a networking event, they stood out next to those dressed as the movie’s T’Challa, Killmonger, and Okoye.

Kathleen Caliento, an executive at the Academy Group, an organization founded

by Earvin “Magic” Johnson with a coalition of former CEOs, academics, and investors to mentor young people from underserved communities, saw the event as an opportunity.

When I asked how it felt to be in a business suit in a room full of cosplayers she said, “I’m totally comfortable in black nerd spaces, because I know blackness is not a monolith.

There are many ways to engage with the meaning of Wakanda.”

Wakandacon billed itself as a “new kind of cultural event.” It had a mix of familiar science-fiction convention staples ranging

Kid dressed as Black Panther

from face painting to a cosplay contest. However, unlike other speculative fiction or comic conventions, like ReedPop’s C2E2 or WinCon, Wakondacon aimed to include all manner of nerds, whether they be into politics, news, comedy, or technology. Organizers and many attendees were quick to correct any attempt to label this event as being focused on any one topic.

Though there was no official permission from Marvel to reference the fictional country, it was clear that the event was intended to create someplace like Wakanda if only for three days: a thriving and successful black community without a reliance on outsiders. Here, it was all about a healthy black community interacting with and celebrating the things that they had in common and the things that made

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Brent Watkins as a Jabari tribesman won first place in the Veteran Cosplay competition.

Okoye cosplayer

David Etheridge as Erik Killmonger took second place in the Beginner Cosplay contest.

them unique. As for the competition from Lollapalooza and Gen Con, David Barthwell, one of the founders, said, “It was this weekend or the weekend of the Beyoncé concert, and we didn’t want to disrespect her.”

On Saturday night the software company Autodesk held a mixer to introduce their products as well as to encourage participation in STEM for those who loved the idea of this wonderful future but who might not be into the cosplay or the creating of media.

The intersection of race and technology and access for black people is a key aspect of Afrofuturism, a literary and social framework for addressing concerns about the future of the African diaspora. As a genre it includes a wide range of media and artists, as well as scholars who seriously interrogate the imagery that is created and consumed in popular culture.

Though Wakanda’s economic system has never been specifically labeled capitalist or socialist, the Black Panther movie made it

clear that the people of this fictional nation had all their needs and many of their wants met. It was this idea of a wealthy black independent nation that inspired the three Barthwell siblings, David, Ali, and Matt, and their friends Lisa Beasley and Taylor Witten to start Wakandacon this past February, after they’d seen the movie several times. (The organizers are writers, performers, producers, a computer programmer, and a social worker; like the tribes of Wakanda, they combined their expertise to put the event together.) It was also the reason prosperity and financial freedom were recurring themes throughout the weekend, with panels that ranged from tips on how to turn being a nerd into a career to how to invest in a cryptocurrency called Wacoinda, billed as “the fastest growing Black economic group on Facebook.”

The organizers sought out a variety of black-owned businesses for the marketplace.

Vendors sold everything from T-shirts to

energy drinks to lessons in survival during a major crisis. The Afrovivalist, a self-described “huntress and urban survivalist,” urged preparation for an off-the-grid life a few feet away from entrepreneurs pushing for greater technological innovation through 3-D printing.

Wakandacon wasn’t just a place for creators and entrepreneurs. Community activists were able to use the space to spread their messages as well. Flint Water Exchange had a table and a panel to explain that, despite some claims to the contrary in the media, Flint, Michigan, still doesn’t have clean water that’s safe to drink.

Rashida “Sheedz” Olayiwola, a comedian and former CPS mentor was there with the Sheedz Success Team, a charity she founded to provide students at Percy L. Julian High School and Marcus Garvey Elementary School with school supplies, clothing, and Ventra cards. Wakandacon helped sponsor this year’s giveaway along with, among others, Cecily Strong, Chris Redd, Samantha Bee, and Ashley Nicole Black.

Wakandacon wasn’t just for locals. Writer and actress Erika Alexander, currently on a ten-city tour with her content company Color Farm Media, reached out to partner with Wakandacon in hopes of encouraging attendees to sign up for Color Farm Media’s nationwide Keep It Colorful initiative. The goal is to get at least 50 digital TV pilots by creators of color greenlit this year. “We are committed to diversity and inclusion,” Alexander said. “We know that the industry excluded some of the best talent, but we know that’s there’s money in there. A lot of money.”

The success of Black Panther, Get Out, Moonlight, Scandal, How to Get Away With Murder, and other media properties from creators of color certainly lends itself to the idea that a diverse and inclusive media is a largely untapped market with plenty of room for growth. Attendees were interested not only in creating their own media, but also in positions that would allow them to work behind J

AUGUST 9, 2018 - CHICAGO READER 11

Afrofuturism Cosplay contestants. Vibranium (second from left) won first place.

Erika Alexander takes a selfie with a fan at the booth for the Keep It Colorful initiative.

Her goal is to get the green light for at least 50 digital TV pilots by people of color.

continued from 11

the scenes. The panel on concept design for entertainment led by Anthony Jones, Thabiso Mhlaba, and Black Panther costume designers Phillip Boutte Jr. and Marco Nelor quickly strayed into the kind of nuts-and-bolts career advice that those on the fringes or completely outside the industry would need.

Scholarly panels covered everything from Afrofuturism to physics, giving attendees a chance to interact with people working in industries where black people are severely underrepresented. Jessica Esquivel, one of under 150 black women in America with a doctorate in physics, explained her work at Fermilab and how she got there. Sami Schalk, a fan, a scholar, and a professor of gender and women’s studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and author of book Bodyminds Reimagined, a study of disability, race and gender in black women’s speculative fiction, gave a presentation on how diversity in speculative media can be used in educational and activist spaces to further work toward a more just society. Schalk said she was drawn to Wakandacon because “there are going to be a lot of black people here, and nerdy black people in one space is exciting.”

Other panels covered topics on sustainable futures and the idea of Queerkanda and being explicitly welcoming to the LGBTQ members of the diaspora.

The children in attendance seemed to love the programming that catered to them explicitly, ranging from the Shuri Project’s coding workshop to the Matt Damon Improv workshop that let them practice their comedic skills.

For many attendees the feeling of not standing out in a crowd, of being part of a community of black nerds seemed to be the biggest draw. Whether you were a con newbie or a veteran or more focused on Afrofuturism than cosplay, there was something for you to see, and someplace where you could feel seen.

Even though I was covering and not participating, I could see how exciting it would be for those who are not able to access these sorts of community events regularly. JP Fairfield, a regular con goer, tweeted, “It’s so weird going to a con and seeing so many people with . . . hair like you . . . Skin like you . . . Not giving you weird looks. I don’t feel like an outsider. I need more of this.”

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Children’s art on display, sponsored by the Children’s Museum of Art and Social Justice

There is no shortage of geeky events in Chicago or the surrounding communities. But not all of those events are as explicitly focused on inclusion in the way that Wakandacon was, and that contributed heavily to calls from attendees at the Hang Out With the Founders panel for this event to occur again next year.

The questions of whether it would be the same weekend, be held in the same location, or even be called Wakandacon were all up in the air at the end of the event. Although organizers were clear that they could only schedule a nap by the second day of the event, they did not shoot down the idea of having a similar event in the future. During interviews and throughout the weekend it was easy to see that the organizers were profoundly overworked because of their small staff. But as David Barthwell said, “We are a small team of only five people who worked really hard and appreciate all the love and support.”

After the untimely demise of Universal FanCon under a cloud of suspicion about the way funds were handled by founders Jamie Broadnax and Robert Butler, as well as subsequent issues that arose around the lack of accountability by the board for the time and money

spent on an event that never came together, it’s understandable that the founders would be hesitant to commit to anything before the receipts for the weekend have been counted. Fan cons are not traditionally financially stable with many being lucky to break even, though a few have gone on to become large scale money makers. For people who have only attended cons in the past, the first time running one can be a lot of hard lessons in event planning.

Still most events planned for the weekend went off without a visible hitch. The Emergence of Afrofuturism panel was canceled at the last minute, but with such a wide array of options and the understanding that this was the inaugural event, attendees seemed willing to accept that there would be a learning curve and responded with a lot of patience and respect. Those who were seeking something to replace the panel knew that they could go to the gaming room, another panel, the relaxation room, or the marketplace and find something fun to do.

Though Wakandacon strove to be inclusive, there were some notable absences from the event. Without Marvel’s approval or support, there was a distinct lack of creators directly

responsible for Black Panther on the page.

(Since its acquisition by Disney, Marvel has pulled out of fan cons.) Writer Nnedi Okorafor, who was recently tapped to write a Shuri comic for Marvel, took to Twitter the first day of the convention stating “There’s a WakandaCon happening in Chicago (where I live). I was never invited. So I’m not going. The End.” Although some on Twitter who seemed to be friendly with one or more of the founders attempted to mediate the situation, Okorafor tweeted that she was busy and refused further discussion.

Not everyone needed an invitation though.

Actor and producer Demetrius Grosse, who was in town filming the HBO series Lovecraft Country, stopped by to check out what was happening and chat with fans. Writer Eve Ewing took the time to wander the halls and listen in on some panels as well.

For those looking to keep the geek fun going there’s always Chicago Nerd Social Club’s monthly events, Ladies Night at Graham Cracker Comics or taking a page from the Wakandacon founders and starting something to help meet other people in the community.

Businesses can open their internship and mentoring programs to more at-risk kids and embrace the possibilities of an inclusive future right now. There’s no way to know if Wakandacon will ever happen again, but there are so many ways to keep the spirit of community involvement alive through the use of technology, or through setting the tech aside and talking to each other. If there’s one thing Chicago can always use, it is ways for the community to engage, whether that be in entrepreneurship, scholarship, or in happy healthy harmless fun. v

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Hoodoisie collective member Richard Wallace during “Make Wakanda Chicago Today” episode at Blue Lacuna in Pilsen last May.

THE REVOLUTION WILL BE LIVESTREAMED

é HARRY FORBES

Hoodoisie creator and host Ricardo Gamboa and featured guest Amara Enyia laugh during Enyia’s appearance on the show’s “Make Chicago Wakanda Today” episode.

The Hoodoisie makes radical politics entertaining and accessible.

By BRIANNA WELLEN

é HARRY FORBES

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refused to watch the inauguration this afternoon,” Ricardo Gamboa said in the monologue of the very first episode of The Hoodoisie back on January 20, 2017. “Not to protest, but fear of lack of self-control. Donald Trump talks so much shit out of his puckered lips that look like a rectum, I was afraid I’d charge the television and try to fuck it.”

Like many artists, Gamboa, who is a performer and playwright, felt the country had started to turn on itself when Trump was elected in 2016. They decided the best way to deal with the state of the world and figure out what to do next was to embrace transgressive humor and open dialogue. So they brought to-

gether a crew (two “ride or dies” and one cameraperson) and began planning the debut of a semimonthly talk show on Inauguration Day 2017 at La Catrina Cafe in Pilsen. While the first episode came together in a moment when half the nation’s population was in a state of fear and depression, especially for people of color and queer people, Gamboa still came onstage ready to make people laugh and feel a little less alone. This is how they engage with the world: they’re either making a funny observation or constructing an academic thesis.

Each episode travels to a different gentrifying neighborhood and tackles current news and cultural events through the prism of radical politics. The aim is to break free from institutionalized party politics while still entertaining audiences and creating a platform for marginalized voices. Gamboa leads a rotating panel of comedians, professors, and activists, all of whom, more often than not, sip from red solo cups (or in some cases, straight from bottles of champagne). Those episodes are live-streamed onto social media, and soon,

thanks to a partnership with OpenTV, will be edited and distributed online in the hope of reaching more viewers.

“I always describe the show as, it’s like The Daily Show if radically politicized queers, POCs, and women were to hijack it and bring along a DJ and a bar,” Gamboa says.

Gamboa and their team took a break from the show this summer to reassess its strategy and plan for the future and to apply for funding to continue growing their vision. The Hoodoisie comes out of hiatus on August J

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18 with a show focusing on technology and autonomy (the location of that show has yet to be announced); a $25,000 grant from the Voqal Foundation, a group that invests in programs that eduate and engage underserved communities, to support future shows; and a one-day Anti-Gentrification Summit in September.

During the very first show, Gamboa’s monologue was followed by “tea time,” a panel discussion featuring storyteller Lily Be, actor Steve Beaudion, and comedians Tribble and Jamie de Leon; interviews with Alderman Carlos Ramirez Rosa and Let Us Breathe founders Kristiana Rae Colón and Damon Williams; and a musical performance by Mykele Deville. In the 32 episodes since, Gamboa has maintained that structure and tone, though the collective, audience, and topics of discussion have allexpanded to challenge new developments in politics.

Audience engagement is built into the show in several ways. Gamboa always leaves an empty chair at the front of the stage for someone in the crowd to step up to, sit in, and contribute to the discussion. If someone onstage uses a word or phrase that is unclear, an audience member or panelist can ask for a definition. The person in question has the length of the Jeopardy! theme song to successfully clarify their point; if they can’t, they’re shamed for using jargon and buzz words they don’t fully understand. The goal of these discussions isn’t to indoctrinate people into one way of thought, but to encourage a supportive environment for differing opinions.

“With The Hoodoisie, no one is obligated to agree,” Gamboa says. “I’m not necessarily trying to create a space where everyone is like-minded, and not because I’m against preaching to the choir—the choir needs a preacher. I’m interested in how we constantly force ourselves to expand, and not in these multiculturalist McDonald’s commercial kind of ways, in actual profound ways.”

GAMBOA, WHO’S MEXICAN-AMERICAN,

grew up bouncing around the city, mostly between Mount Greenwood, Pilsen, and Little Village. They were drawn to late-night talk shows and watched a lot of David Letterman and Arsenio Hall, but became disenchanted when it became clear to them that the genre was basically built around straight, cis, mostly white men who were lauded as the authorities on the political and cultural happenings in the world. As an adult, through their work in theater, nonprofits, community activism, and higher education (they are currently working

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Hoodoisie collective members and co-hosts Karari Olvera Orozco, and Ellen Mayer laugh while discussing recent events in culture and politics. é HARRY FORBES

toward their doctorate in social and cultural analysis from NYU), Gamboa has tried to give more authority to people of color, queer people, and women. They realize they’ve had more access to educational resources than most members of their community, and they don’t take that responsibility lightly.

“I’m Mexican-American in a country where Mexican-Americans account for less than 2 percent of all PhD holders,” Gamboa says.

“I’m finishing my doctorate right now, and it is unfair. I could cry right now thinking of all the smart people in my life who are just never going to get there. The obstacles for them to get there are so unfair. When I think about that stuff it’s like, because I got access to this specific knowledge in this course, it’s not like I got smarter. Part of what I do know is, if I’m one of the 2 percent, it’s my job to generalize that knowledge as much as possible.”

That was the intention behind hosting the show in communities such as Humboldt Park, Little Village, Englewood, Back of the Yards, and Bronzeville. And it’s that bringing together of the educational resources only afforded to certain people—the bourgeoisie—with the culture of people from the neighborhoods that inspired the show’s name. “In the hood,” Gamboa says, “we’re just desperate to have a good time.” Its logo, an indiscernible hooded face, is

meant to represent the anonymity of Mexico’s Zapatistas, promoting the idea that “we could be anyone and we are everyone,” Gamboa says.

Gamboa chooses the topic for each show based on a pressing issue in the host neighborhood. Recent episodes have focused on the criminalization of black people, the politics surrounding access to fresh water, comics created for marginalized populations, and the importance of queer spaces. Shows planned throughout the rest of year include a pre-Labor Day look at sex work on September 1, a show on immigration in honor of Mexican Independence Day on September 15, and a talk with members of the L.A.-based anti-gentrification collective Defend Boyle Heights on September 29, a lead-in to the Anti-Gentrification Summit the next day.

Daniel Kisslinger, a local producer and activist, first met Gamboa when he interviewed them for his WHPK radio show AirGo. Shortly after, on Inauguration Day, he went straight from a protest downtown to the very first Hoodoisie show. He felt a similar energy in that Pilsen cafe, he says, as he did in the crowded streets.

“All my work kind of focuses on dialogue as a radical craft: How can we use the act of dialogue and conversation to reimagine our world?” Kisslinger says. “I was watching this

in front of this live audience in practice. So I went to the next two shows.”

Soon after, Kisslinger approached Gamboa to ask how he could get involved. He now serves as a producer on the show. Each of the 16 or so members of the collective who make up the rotating panel has a similar story: many started out as audience members or guests on the show and wanted to become even more involved. For some, that meant being given, perhaps for the first time, an opportunity to speak on issues that are important to them, For others, like frequent social justice speaker Xavier Ramey, it meant being given a platform to be more candid.

“There wasn’t the filter that’s normally applied when you work with some institutions here in the city given the politics, particularly for people in the nonprofit sector, the politics of their funding,” Ramey says. “The structure of The Hoodoisie was fundamentally set up to not deal with those politics, so the flexibility in the infrastructure of how it was set up allowed for an authenticity in the topics as well as what was being said.”

In the show, and in their other activism, Gamboa emphasizes the importance of existing outside the boundaries of traditional media and politics. They recognize that often the result of defeating one institution is cre-

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The audience fills up before the show. The Hoodoisie regularly draws upwards of 150 audience members to each show. é HARRY FORBES

ating another institution that people become trapped in. The ethos of The Hoodoisie is not to explicitly support or endorse any one candidate or movement, but to support people and allow them the space to speak about their own experiences without fear of judgment or condemnation.

That doesn’t mean Gamboa is against taking action. But they want to provide the space for people to take action on their own terms in the ways they consider most effective instead of subscribing to a specific form of activism.

They believe that biggest call to action is a change in thought and perspective.

“Every time I come to The Hoodoisie, I think the big get that you get is the, ‘Huh, I never thought about that,’” Ramey says. “Not a ‘This has shattered me to my core’ or a ‘I feel fundamentally challenged.’ It’s for those of us who are really excited for living the questions.

It provides a space where you’re not going to get all the answers, but you’ll get a heck of a prod in the right direction or at least a point of illumination.”

The “tea time” panels in particular provide an opportunity for people to discuss things beyond their formal area of expertise. Hoodoisie collective member Hilda Franco works as an education coordinator with the Chicago Public Schools and other education programs. But she’s also been directly affected by gentrification. Franco was born and raised in Pilsen. As an adult, she saw her parents forced out of the neighborhood; they now live in Florida. Meanwhile Franco is still in Chicago doing her best

Rapper Jasmine Barber, aka J-Bambi, performs at the “Make Chicago Wakanda Today” episode. é HARRY FORBES

to stay in Pilsen and maintain the culture of the neighborhood. She struggles with trying to figure out the best way to address the issue from the front lines.

“It’s really interesting to see people be like, ‘What did that feel like?’ Well, what do you think it would feel like? My parents aren’t here anymore. My whole family is scattered and, being Mexican, that’s a really weird adult experience,” Franco says. “I’m not the antigentrification person who is going to try to shut a business down, I’m the anti-gentrification person who is going to try to help the people in my neighborhood. I think it’s better for us to stay interpersonal and recognize people’s needs in that way.”

Former congressional candidate and comedian Sameena Mustafa, a guest on the March episode “Comedy and Revolution,” says she appreciated the discourse and immediate engagement. Afterward, she met several people at other political events around the city who recognized her from the show. She was excited to see audience members taking actions beyond passively watching.

“That’s what Ricardo is creating, this community of engaged, passionate people,” Mustafa says. “Ricardo has a very strong point of view and grasp on issues that are not only national and international, but they’re very versed in the political structures and individuals who are adversely impacting communities

of color. We had some differences of opinion on the panel, but it was a lively conversation, and I appreciate that.”

For Gamboa, the talk show format isn’t just for this one project, but a way of exploring how artistic and political communities can interact with and relate to each other moving forward. What they’ve learned throughout The Hoodoisie’s run so far is that so-called safe spaces can manifest in several different ways.

“We’re working on creating alternative ecologies that don’t just allow us to survive but to really flourish, and we don’t know what they could look like,” Gamboa says. “People cry during the episodes, [but] we also get drunk during the episodes. We need to be experimental and playful with what they look like. Forcing each other to play also forces us to remind us of our own humanity. [When] you have a Puerto Rican political prisoner being able to make jokes, it changes the conversation.”

Moving forward, Gamboa has plans for more events sprouting from the main Hoodoisie shows, like a series dedicated just to comedy and entertainment, or workshops providing those who are interested with resources for public organizing. The upcoming AntiGentrification Summit will facilitate some of those educational opportunities outside the walls of a Saturday-night show.

Even with a large amount of grant money, The Hoodoisie continues to rely on donations from both audiences and a GoFundMe page to keep itself alive and growing. For the entire first year of its existence, no one was getting paid. It’s important to Gamboa that, going forward, they are able to pay everyone who is involved enough so they can rely on The Hoodoisie as a part-time job.

As the show continues to grow, however, Gamboa recognizes that it won’t be theirs forever. They can continue writing jokes about Trump and creating their own work, but for The Hoodoisie to remain truly radical, the leadership and direction of the show need to evolve.

“Ultimately my goal is to develop the audience for this and develop it really robustly and hand it over,” Gamboa says. “I think our job needs to be to constantly make ourselves obsolete and then give ourselves the opportunity to be great and go forward and grow in new ways while giving everyone else the springboard to become stronger and better too.” v

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LIT

Beyond borders

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Fatimah Asghar’s first collection of poetry, If They Come for Us, is a warning about the consequences of ignoring history.

é CASSIDY KRISTIANSEN

By DEVLYN CAMP

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he 1947 partition of India and Pakistan is rarely acknowledged in American history classes, much less in poetry books.

The forced migration of 14 million people— Muslims to Pakistan, Hindus to India—left divisions that families still grieve over today.

Writer Fatimah Asghar, 28, spent most of her life not knowing how partition affected her family, learning about it only once she was in college. Now, in the wake of the Trump administration’s separation of families and its many crackdowns on immigration and border control, Asghar’s collection of poems, If They Come for Us, reads like a warning. Her poetry examines the recurring nature of borders, including the invisible line by which people are divided into groups with varying ideologies, faiths, and politics.

She first learned about her family’s history during the India-Pakistan partition from her uncle. He told her the story of how the family was forced to leave Kashmir for Lahore, which sparked her obsession with researching the event. “I’ve been constantly thinking about it and looking back into it,” she says, “and trying to understand exactly what happened.” Her uncle’s story isn’t explained in any detail in the book, perhaps intentionally, but the emotional weight of his forced migration is felt in every poem. And though the countries and other specific details may differ, the impact of forced migration has caused similar trauma for many families.

Asghar didn’t intend to write anything about her family’s history or broadcast a politically relevant message under a controversial administration, but she has done just that. “I spent a lot of years writing the book before Trump really was a prominent political figure” she says. “I’ve been writing about this stuff for a really long time.”

Her poetry criticizes a president who stokes fear in “a country whose sun is war / we keep rotating around its warmth” and reminds the reader that communities of color are often displaced by a nation’s battles. She describes on a personal level what it’s like to feel at war with one’s own skin color when under the watchful eye of kids at school. She writes about her siblings elbowing each other to get into the bathroom to get a moment of peace. She describes an aunt teaching her what a poisonous flower looks like. Asghar’s poetry collection ultimately does the same thing: it educates her audience about what poison looks like in this world, no matter how it’s presented.

If They Come for Us explores what borders mean to humanity, not just what they

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ARTS & CULTURE

IF THEY COME FOR US: POEMS

By Fatimah Asghar (One World). Reading Sun 8/12, 6 PM, Women & Children First, 5233 N. Clark, 773-769-9299, womenandchildrenfirst.com. F

represent to a nation’s leaders, but also how a family is influenced by the lines that have been drawn. Relatives are separated by them, and their children, like Asghar, are raised in a world that accepts the past separations as ordinary.

Asghar’s parents moved to the United States from Lahore in the mid-80s, before she was born. They died when she and her siblings were still very young; they were raised by other immigrants in their family and community. Asghar writes about finding a family that transcends blood because its members bond over a shared history. She makes the case that family transcends borders too.

In writing this collection, Asghar rebels against the habit of historical ignorance that marginalizes people of color. “Politicians try to do that,” Asghar says. “[They] can continue these really terrible systems of racism. There are not really a lot of public conversations about partition, and it’s this way in which people fall back into that violence.”

She’s not just concerned about the IndiaPakistan partition. Her book quotes prepresidency Donald Trump directly in his call for an American ban on Muslim immigrants.

That promise, which Trump has tried to uphold since he was elected, echoes a long tradition of politicians not learning from past leaders’ mistakes. History has repeated itself consistently and has shown many leaders to be apathetic about the effects of enforcing a border or a ban or attempting to erase a group of marginalized people. These borders and bans lead to generations of trauma for the victims’ descendants to grapple with.

“There is a lot of historical amnesia in the world, and we just don’t know a lot of our own

history,” Asghar says. “If there was a way that was more commemorative and memorialized, I think we would be better people. America rarely grapples with its history of slavery and indigenous genocide. We’re on this land that has witnessed really painful things, and yet there’s no real public places of memorializing this trauma. Therefore, everybody is able to not look at it and sweep it under the rug.”

If They Come for Us is Asghar’s way of grieving her family’s own overlooked history.

The stories of her family’s forced migration are still relatively new to her, and her poems are often a painful examination of that trauma.

But while the book analyzes the larger politics of migration, it also explores Asghar’s relationships with friends and her queerness. The webseries Brown Girls, which she created with her friend Sam Bailey and which has recently been picked up by HBO, has presented similar story lines. Queer people and people of color, Asghar says, “should be able to write the work that they want, whether that’s hard, whether that’s joyful. And if that turns away from politics or leans into it, ultimately that’s up to every individual artist.” She finds that each of her creative projects fulfills a different need in her life. “Brown Girls was about a friendship and love that exists there, and this book is meant to be about history and borders, and therefore the tone is darker.”

Asghar does think the webseries’ themes surrounding sexuality and what it means to be an adult are contemplated in the book too.

Some of the poems—those about friendship and body exploration and playing with Barbies—do shift from the political toward the intimate and personal. But while those poems are a relief from the weight of more serious topics, they are still reminders that her particular point of view—that of a queer woman of color who was once a brown girl who played with white-skinned Barbies—has often been marginalized or overlooked.

Mostly, though, her poems are the memorial for the trauma she still dwells on. She hopes that people who read them will be reminded of the history that’s been so often ignored, particularly during this recent resurgence of immigration issues. “We fall back into these divides that were stoked by these nationalistic rhetorics,” Asghar says. “We need to have more conversations about our history. If there’s a warning, that’s it: What does it mean to sit with the complications of history, and can that help us be better in the future?” v

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Raphael Diaz and Kiayla Ryann é MICHAEL COURIER

THEATER

Disarming empathy

In The Harvest, Samuel D. Hunter suggests that even fundamentalists are human.

By TONY ADLER

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f, as the Dalai Lama says, “compassion is the radicalism of our time,” then Samuel D. Hunter’s 2016 one-act, The Harvest, is the most revolutionary play you’re likely to see anytime soon. In this current, angry cultural climate plenty of writers try to catch the zeitgeist by weaponizing empathy: lavishing it on some, withholding it from others in order to shake audiences out of their presumably smug complacency. Not Hunter. The Harvest doles it out to everybody.

R THE HARVEST

Through 8/26: Thu-Sat 7:30 PM, Sun 3 PM; also Sat 8/25 3 PM, Den Theatre, 1333 N. Milwaukee, 773-697-3830, griffintheatre. com, $28-$36.

But not carelessly. Comprehensive as it is, Hunter’s compassion is conscientious and clear-eyed. He doesn’t slather it on like bar-

becue sauce. And he’s far from happy-happy friendly about it. As Jonathan Berry’s deft staging for Griffin Theatre demonstrates, The Harvest looks to be going for something deeper. More like the odd, impolitic, paradoxical truth of human beings. In doing so it defeats our expectations and, yes, rather quietly shakes us up.

Hunter, who won a MacArthur “genius” grant in 2014, has a history of focusing less on the folks most theatergoers have already agreed to feel bad about—the poor, women, people of color, gays—and more on those they can still half-rationalize finding icky: the morbidly obese (Whale), nursing home residents (Rest), and regular Idahoans (multiple plays, since that’s where he comes from). True to that pattern, The Harvest sets us down in the basement meeting room of a Christian evangelical church somewhere in Idaho Falls, Idaho, where five young fundamentalists are talking in tongues.

The prayers are prelude to a meeting. J

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Three of the five will be heading off to the Middle East in a matter of days, on a fourmonth mission to bring Muslims to Jesus.

A fourth, Josh (Raphael Diaz), plans to go with them but not to return: feeling alone in the world after having endured the slow, ugly death of his alcoholic father a few weeks earlier, Josh has decided, in his early 20s, to give the rest of his life over to proving what someone else calls “the superiority of Christian culture.” The fifth person is their trainer, Ada (a smoothly adroit Kiayla Ryann), who plays Arabic Pictionary with them, tells them suspiciously familiar stories about her own missionary experience, bakes cupcakes, and leads them in uncomfortable role-playing exercises. (Proselytizer: “So you’re a Muslim?”

Muslim: “Yes.”) We soon find out that Josh isn’t as alone as he thinks. His older sister, Michaela (Paloma Nozicka), comes looking for him at the church, having received his text about emigrating to a God-drenched/God-forsaken war zone 7,000 miles away.

Michaela herself ran away when she was 16 years old, ending up in Eugene, Oregon, where things haven’t gone well. (Ada: “So what brought you to Eugene?” Michaela: “The meth.”) Sadder but wiser now at 25, she’s decided to move back home and make a family a deux with Josh, if he’ll only agree to change his plans. Michaela is not only a catalyst for Josh’s dark night of the soul—he’s got his tortured best friend, Tom, to help with that. She’s also the voice of the secular world. And Hunter gets that voice pitch-perfect in an early passage where Michaela happens to pick up a church brochure and read

it aloud (“Christ’s message to the third world is a seedling struggling toward the sun . . . ”).

Rather than ask her brother about the brochure’s content, she asks, “I mean—you have better taste than this. Right?” Above all, she’s repelled by the aesthetics of the thing.

The ick factor.

Fortunately, Hunter doesn’t treat his band of evangelicals with the same condescension that Michaela does—though he doesn’t come anywhere near romanticizing them either.

Elements down to the sounds from a choir rehearsing in another part of the church are rendered as sour, awkward, or plain comic. Hunter is also acutely aware of the ways in which fundamentalism can mean suppression. As Denise, a mission trainee whose husband won’t even let her speak in tongues the way she wants, Kathryn Acosta has a powerful scene in which her roleplaying exercise goes tellingly off course.

Collin Quinn Rice’s delicate, pained Tom has what his worried preacher father (Patrick Blashill) might think of as demons too.

But Hunter and Berry are both scrupulous in their compassion toward their characters.

Josh, Tom, Denise, and the others are allowed to believe and to struggle with belief like anyone with a sense of commitment— and a reasonable fear of that commitment— might. Indeed, the strange final seconds of the play are as much a challenge to a liberal audience as they are to the people onstage.

Those brilliant seconds acknowledge that there are more things on heaven and earth than are thought of in anybody’s philosophy.

Anybody’s at all. v

m @taadler

b ALL AGES

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Pillowtalk é WALTER WLODARCZYK

THEATER

A different stripe of pillow talk

Asian-American theater artists convene for six days of ConFest.

ARTISTS FROM AROUND THE COUNTRY will convene August 13 through 18 for the sixth National Asian American Theater Conference and Festival, also known as ConFest, hosted by Victory Gardens Theater, Silk Road Rising, and the Theatre School at DePaul University. This is the first time the conference will be held in Chicago.

CONFEST 2018: “REVOLUTIONARY ACTS”

8/13-8/18: various times and locations, see website, caata.net, festival pass $75-$400, individual shows $10-$35.

The six-day event will feature six full productions—including Kyoung H. Park’s Pillowtalk, presented by the Brooklyn-based company Kyoung’s Pacific Beat—as well as staged readings, speakers, panel discussions, think tanks, workshops, and parties.

“This is something very new for Chicago theaters,” says Jamil Khoury, founding artistic director of Silk Road Rising and a board member of the Consortium of Asian American Theaters & Artists (CAATA), which sponsors the conference. “It’s an opportunity for people to engage with stories they haven’t heard

18 CHICAGO READER - AUGUST 9, 2018

READER RECOMMENDED

or seen, but also for relationships to develop between individual artists and companies that may be outside of Chicago with theater companies and theater makers here in town.”

This year’s theme, “Revolutionary Acts,” will explore the most pressing issues shared among a diverse body of marginalized groups and artists of color. For Leslie Ishii, director of the National Cultural Navigation Theater Project and a CAATA board member, those include both the “larger concepts of inequity around how resources come [and] the immediate needs of keeping the doors open while we keep ongoing efforts coordinated to resist blackface [i.e., casting someone not black to play a person of color], yellowface, redface, brownface, and disability-/drag-/cripface.

“There are a great many folks who are awake, more aware to the injustices,” Ishii continues. “In the American theater field, many of the organizations and certainly many of the individuals are really bringing themselves into a place of education and awareness around equity, diversity, and inclusion, and ultimately, we aim for them to join the revolution in service of social justice.”

Adds Khoury: “I think it is a revolutionary act every time we expand or work to expand representation.” —DAN JAKES

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Hurricane Damage

ARTS & CULTURE

é PAUL GOYETTE

and Fri 7:30 PM, Sat 3 PM, Sun 5 PM, Pride Films and Plays, 4139 N. Broadway, 866-811-4111, pridefilmsandplays.com, $25-$30, students, seniors, and military $20.

R South-side stories

Meet Juan(ito) Doe chronicles the lives and loves of Chicago Mexican-Americans.

THEATER

R Who owns Shakespeare?

In The African Company Presents Richard III, black performers wear, and then drop, the mask.

Based on true events in 1822 Manhattan, The African Company Presents Richard III, written by Carlyle Brown, tells the tale of two rival theater companies, one black and one white.

An appreciation for Shakespeare is widely considered the mark of a “cultured” person, yet culture is often bred in exclusivity. Who owns Shakespeare?

Can neophytes without training or perfect diction deserve acclaim? Director Ron OJ Parson expertly highlights Brown’s examination of respectability politics and code-switching and draws a direct line from slavery to its racist legacy today in the form of grammar shamers and “Permit Pattys.”

Brandon Greenhouse gives a poignant performance as a leading man striving to transcend his circumstances.

Matty Robinson shifts seamlessly from crackling comedy to drama as the ambitious African Theatre owner.

Johnny Lee Davenport delights as Griot Papa Shakespeare, whose imperfect English belies his mastery of communication as he matches wits with the hilariously cranky Velma Austin as Sarah, his would-be sweetheart.

Jack Hickey is pitch-perfect as Stephen Price, the rival theatre owner, jovially delivering discrimination through concern trolling. Joel Ottemheimer adds refreshing levity as the Constable, and Ariel Richardson shines as Anne, a vulnerable woman whose role will always be underwritten onstage and in life.

Fittingly, the show opens with the poem “We Wear the Mask” by Paul Laurence Dunbar. When the mask finally drops, it shatters. This is a top-notch mirthful and powerful production at Oak Park Festival Theatre, one of the most charming theater spaces in all of Chicagoland. —SHERI FLANDERS THE AFRICAN COMPANY

PRESENTS RICHARD III Through 9/1: Thu-Sat 8 PM,

Sun 7 PM, Oak Park Festival Theatre, 167 Forest Ave., Oak Park, 708-300-9396, oakparkfestival. com, $15-$32.

Gorey gal

Libby Marshall shows comic potential in Delicate Decay.

In this solo sketch show, Libby Marshall races through dozens of short bits in less than an hour. Aided by a top hat, a burlap sack, a salt shaker, a few other props, and some prerecorded audio, Marshall inhabits a multitude of characters, including a few inanimate objects. She has enough natural presence to command attention even though a lot of her material is impersonal and underdeveloped.

Marshall intentionally projects an eccentric persona.

Clad in a full-length black dress with a velvet top, she

looks a little like a distant relation of the Beales of Grey Gardens as drawn by Edward Gorey. The more memorable vignettes include several scenes in which Marshall twists and bends her lanky frame to create dramatic moments that rise above their sketch-comedy origins, including an impersonation of a rubber plant in a public restroom bemoaning its fate and Melania Trump begging a Ouija board for release from her suffering. But too often Marshall leans on pop-culture tropes rather than lived experience. The Annoyance Theatre does her no favors by assigning her a stage sandwiched between the very loud lobby bar and another theater from which other performers’ voices bled in throughout the show.

Marshall is a gifted performer who should have no trouble landing a wide variety of comedic and dramatic roles. Much of this show, in fact, comes off as a kind of live audition reel. With a few more years behind her and some editing help, I could see a solo show like this really flying. I look forward to seeing what she does next.

Jillian Mueller directed. —DMITRY SAMAROV DELICATE

DECAY Through 8/13: Mon 8 PM, Annoyance The-

atre, 851 W. Belmont, 773-697-9693, theannoyance. com, $8.

Unescapable disasters

Hurricane Damage dives into the wreck of the AIDS crisis.

When the AIDS epidemic became a seemingly inescapable menace to gay men in the early 1980s, lovers Oscar and Dennis fled New York City for their vacation home on the Florida gulf coast, imagining the storm would soon blow over. Three decades later they’re still there, clutching their way through what may be the despairing final gasps of their self-imposed exile, with only the blinkered good nature of their young, hunky, live-in handyman Ford Angel to inject a bit of life into the sepulchral manse—which has been freshly ravaged by a more literal kind of storm. Into the mix wanders Norman, a long-lost member of their 1970s gay inner circle. His arrival sparks long-buried resentments as well as a few unlikely seeds of hope for a bearable future.

The story all but invites a Tennessee Williamsesque metaphorical oversaturation, a pitfall New York playwright Kevin Brofsky admirably avoids. And like Williams, Brofsky is largely concerned with his characters and their relationships—to one another and, perhaps more centrally, to their romanticized and obliterated pasts—rather than forwarding a plot. Given the underrehearsed feel of director Paul Cook’s world-premiere staging for Pride Films and Plays, it’s difficult to gauge Brofsky’s success; while the script’s broad contours are solidly in place, the interpersonal nuances that might give the production a fuller dimension are largely absent.

Everyone’s past ends up erased, of course. Brofsky reminds us just how harrowing that experience has been for the Reagan-era gay men who survived. —JUSTIN HAYFORD HURRICANE DAMAGE Through 8/26: Wed

First produced last fall at the Free Street Storyfront space in Back of the Yards, this remarkable revival chronicles, in a series of short, sweet scenes and heartfelt monologues, the loves and likes of various Chicago Chicanos: an uncloseted gay man who defies his father’s homophobia, a daring tagger yearning for his place in history, a teenager at once amused and appalled by the preparations for her quinceañera (the most humiliating moment must be when her abuela insists she enhance the bustline of her dress with Perdue frozen chicken breast fillets), and a late-middle-aged father coping with alcoholism and anger issues.

In less capable hands these characters could have become mere cartoons or, worse, romanticized agitprop characters, but native south-sider Ricardo Gamboa, who wrote the show and codirected it with Ana Velazquez, has the clear eye of a gifted comic writer. Given the chance, Gamboa prefers to create interesting, flawed human beings who make us cringe one minute and win us over the next, only to make us cringe again. (This will come as no surprise to fans of Gamboa’s witty webseries Brujos.) The intimacy of the performing space certainly helps, but only because the show’s six-member ensemble, all of but one of whom appeared in the 2017 version, know how to play to an audience only a few feet—or in some scenes, a few inches—away. Keren Díaz de León and Elizabeth Nungaray are particularly adept at communicating volumes with small gestures or slight changes of expression.

—JACK HELBIG MEET JUAN(ITO) DOE Through

THE

MEXICAN 1967

celebrating

51

!

YEARS Thanks to Ya’ll

!

just steps from the Dempster “L” stop

Tue - Sat 10 - 6 847-475-8665

801 Dempster Evanston

9/7: Fri 7:30 PM, Free Street Storyfront, 4346 S. Ashland, 773-772-7248, freestreet.org, $5 or pay what you can. v

The African Company Presents Richard III

Find hundreds of Readerrecommended restaurants, exclusive video features, and sign up for weekly news chicagoreader.com/ food.

é JHENAI MOOTZ

AUGUST 9, 2018 - CHICAGO READER 19

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MOVIES

Do the white thing

In Spike Lee’s latest, BlacKkKlansman, a cop infiltrates his local Ku Klux Klan chapter.

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Solo: A Star Wars Story Sat-Sun, Aug 11-12 @ 8:30pm

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By BEN SACHS

W

riting in the Reader in 1991, Jonathan Rosenbaum compared Spike Lee’s Jungle Fever to “a kind of ‘living newspaper,’ where front-page stories exist in proximity to one another without necessarily linking up, and where it’s left to the audience to make some of the vital connections (or not, as the case may be).” This description fairly summarizes much of Lee’s work, for better and for worse. On the one hand, his movies are almost always timely and ambitious; on the other, his usual insistence on confronting as much of the zeitgeist as possible can make them feel overweening and rushed.

Lee’s vibrant docudrama BlacKkKlansman, which won the Grand Prix at the Cannes film festival earlier this year, is one of the director’s stronger films and—perhaps not coinciden-

ssss EXCELLENT

20 CHICAGO READER - AUGUST 9, 2018

sss GOOD

tally—one of his most focused. The narrative sticks to a just a couple of plotlines (a police investigation, a romance), and Lee manages to unify his various thematic concerns (subterfuge and sabotage, representations of blackness and whiteness in media, the political victory of Donald Trump), something he’s rarely done since Do the Right Thing (1989).

Like that earlier film, BlacKkKlansman is organized around feelings of anger. The dialogue abounds with bigoted sentiments, both heroes and villains are defined by what they hate, and the story climaxes with an act of violence. And then there’s Lee’s rage at America’s political situation following Trump’s election, which influences the film’s conversations on race relations and prejudice. Even though the action takes place in the early 1970s, the director makes it clear that his characters are talking

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about the present when these sensitive subjects come up; he also concludes the film with news footage of white supremacists marching on Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017, and violently attacking counterdemonstrators. Yet BlacKkKlansman never feels overwhelmed by its anger—it’s exciting, astute, and even funny at times.

Lee introduces the film’s hero, Ron Stallworth (who wrote the memoir on which the movie is based), as he’s starting work at the Colorado Springs Police Department. His superiors inform him that, as the first black man to serve in the department, he’ll likely face racial prejudice from some of his fellow officers.

Ron claims he won’t be shaken. Sporting an Afro and the sort of outfit Richard Roundtree might have worn in Shaft (1971), he takes visible pride in his black identity. He’s also dead

WORTHLESS

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164 North State Street

Between Lake & Randolph

ARTS & CULTURE serious about enforcing the law; one intuits from the dialogue (and from John David Washington’s steely lead performance) his desire to channel his moral conviction into police work.

Ron gets his chance when he casually calls up the local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan and pretends to be a white man interested in joining the organization. Suspecting that some of the members are up to foul play, he infiltrates the chapter through phone conversations and by sending his partner, Flip (Adam Driver), to meetings in his stead. Working together, they end up foiling an assassination attempt by one of the local Klansmen.

Early in the film, Ron’s superiors ask him to go undercover at a lecture delivered by Kwame Ture (ne Stokely Carmichael) at a local black student society. They say they want him to root out any potentially violent radicals, but it’s obvious that they also want to test Ron’s allegiance to the police force—they’re curious whether he’ll respond favorably to any of Ture’s radical rhetoric. Ron takes a shine to the head of the student society, Patrice (Laura Harrier), and after the lecture they start meeting regularly. Lee depicts the ensuing romance sweetly, offsetting the ugliness that Ron encounters in his interactions with the KKK. Moreover, the conversations between Ron and Patrice provide a platform for Lee (who wrote the script with Kevin Willmott, Charlie Wachtel, and David Rabinowitz) to muse on aspects of black culture. During one date, the couple debate whether Shaft or Superfly is more successful when it comes to delivering

black identification figures; during another, they return to some of Ture’s teachings.

Indeed most of the characters in BlacKkKlansman identify themselves through the media they consume. Ture, in his lecture, talks about developing antiblack sentiments as a boy from watching Tarzan beat up black “savages” in adventure serials. When Ron prepares Flip for his first face-to-face with KKK members, he advises his partner to list the white musicians he likes. The movie even opens with a scene from Gone With the Wind, which a white nationalist (Alec Baldwin) speaks over in a didactic short film disseminating racist ideology, and climaxes with an extended consideration of D.W. Griffith’s Birth of a Nation, one of the most famous works of racism in cinema. Lee cuts between the local KKK chapter watching the movie (and cheering along to the onscreen persecution of blacks) and Patrice’s student group listening to a speech by an elderly activist (played by Harry Belafonte). The old man recalls the premiere of Birth of Nation and how it led directly a spike in KKK membership; this social history sets the stage for a personal reminiscence of watching a crowd of angry whites mutilate an innocent black man in his hometown. Lee wants to explain how images in popular culture have social and political consequences—a vital message when a white nationalist made popular by reality television holds the highest political office in the United States. v

m @1bsachs

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August 10 - 16

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AUGUST 9, 2018 - CHICAGO READER 21

Get showtimes at chicagoreader.com/movies.

ARTS & CULTURE Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood and 9:30 PM; Sat 8/11, 2:15, 4:30, 7:15, and 9:30 PM; Sun 8/12, 2:15, 4:30, 7:15, and 9:30 PM; Mon 8/13, 2:15, 4:30, 7:15, and 9:30 PM; Tue 8/14, 2:15, 4:30, 7:15, and 9:30 PM; Wed 8/15, 2:15, 4:30, 7:15, and 9:30 PM; Thu 8/16, 2:15, 4:30, 7:15, and 9:30 PM, Music Box.

R Summer 1993

MOVIES

PM; Wed 8/15, 2:30 and 7:30 PM; Thu 2:30 and 8:40 PM, Music Box.

The Meg

and the Secret History R Scotty of Hollywood

A team of oceanographers discover that the Carcharodon megalodon—a giant sharklike creature believed to have been extinct for millions of years—is alive and well and swimming dangerously close to the southern Chinese coast. This big-budget monster movie is idiotic but inoffensive; the characters are paper-thin and the story doesn’t make much sense, but the upbeat portrayal of a close-knit, hard-working professional team is engaging and (if you squint hard enough) vaguely Hawksian.

Director Jon Turteltaub (National Treasure) strikes an agreeable tone, avoiding both unnecessary heaviness and self-aware camp. Playing a devil-may-care naval captain, Jason Statham leads a serviceable ensemble cast that includes Rainn Wilson, Li Bingbing, and Jessica McNamee. —BEN SACHS PG-13, 113 min. Block 37, ArcLight Chicago, Century 12 and CineArts 6, Chatham 14 Theaters, Cicero Showplace 14, City North 14, Crown Village 18, Ford City, Lake, New 400, River East 21, Showplace 14 Galewood Crossings, Webster Place 11.

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Nico, 1988

Nico, the German ice goddess Andy Warhol paired with the Velvet Underground in 1967, nursed a heavy heroin addiction during the 70s and 80s, and this depressing biopic about her last two years finds the stoned singer grinding out club shows across Europe with a backup band of near amateurs. “I wasn’t happy when I was beautiful,” confesses the chunky, raven-haired Nico (Trine Dyrholm), who brushes off interviewers’ questions about the Velvets to highlight her solo discography of baleful Teutonic dirges. Aside from a weird sequence in which the traveling musicians make a tourist stop at the Nuremberg parade grounds, writer-director Susanna Nicchiarelli downplays the singer’s unsavory racial attitudes, focusing instead on her heartache over the young son who was removed from her custody during her Warhol days and raised by the family of his biological father, the French actor Alain Delon. With John Gordon Sinclair and Anamaria Marinca (4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days). —J.R. JONES R, 93 min. Fri 8/10, 3:30 and 7:45 PM; Sat 8/11, 3:30 and 7:45 PM; Sun 8/12, 3:30 and 7:45 PM; Mon 8/13, 2:30 and 7:40 PM; Tue 8/14, 2:30 and 7:30

Fresh out of the marines, George “Scotty” Bowers landed a job at a Hollywood filling station in 1946 and, for the next four decades, served as a sexual matchmaker around town, allegedly lining up gay and straight lovers for such silver-screen legends as Cary Grant, Rock Hudson, Noel Coward, Bette Davis, Randolph Scott, George Cukor, William Holden, Spencer Tracy (who liked men), and Katharine Hepburn (who liked women). Bowers, now in his 90s, spills the beans in this documentary by Matt Tyrnauer (Citizen Jane: Battle for the City), with anecdotes you’ll never hear on Turner Classic Movies (Coward once requested 15 strapping young marines so he could fellate them one after the other). The movie feels like tabloid trash at first, but Tyrnauer’s probing questions reveal Bowers as a man so honest with himself and unashamed of his sex life (including his childhood molestation by an adult neighbor) that he stands as a living rebuke to the imagined America of Hollywood’s golden age. —J.R. JONES 98 min. Fri 8/10, 2:15, 4:30, 7:15,

In this semiautobiographical drama from Catalan filmmaker Carla Simón, a recently orphaned sixyear-old from Barcelona (Laia Artigas) goes to live with her uncle, his wife, and their cherubic toddler in rural Catalonia. The nuclear family and their picturesque environs are at once attractive and strange to the unsettled girl, who also picks up on the disdain with which some adults refer to her mother’s lifestyle and death from an AIDS-related illness. Refreshingly, Simón’s take on the “summer that changed everything” movie is delicate and unsentimental, earning an emotional response simply by exploring how a child interprets loss from the child’s perspective and at the child’s pace. Languorous and naturalistic, the film also benefits from a strong performance at its center: Artigas is a revelation. —LEAH PICKETT 97 min. Fri 8/10, 2 and 6:15 PM; Sat 8/11, 7:45 PM; Sun 8/12, 3 PM; Mon 8/13, 6 PM; Tue 8/14, 8:15 PM; Wed 8/15, 6 PM; and Thu 8/16, 8:15 PM. Gene Siskel Film Center.

The Plastic Dome of Norma Jean

A genuine oddity, this 1966 independent feature is a compelling (if not always coherent) mix of magic realism, southern gothic, and rock ’n’ roll musical. A clairvoyant young woman and her boyfriend buy a large plastic tent with the aim of creating a semi-outdoor music venue in their small Missouri town. A rock band magically appears on the site, and soon after, the lead singer persuades the woman to start telling people’s fortunes in between musical performances. The act becomes a sensation, but the heroine doesn’t take well to stardom; eventually she flees from the spotlight and seeks refuge in the local junkyard. Juleen Compton, a veteran of the New York theater scene, directed her own script, never letting on as to what all of this might mean. Yet the film’s opacity may be its greatest asset—watching it is a bit like peering into someone else’s dream. —BEN SACHS 82 min min. Wed 8/15, 7:30 PM, Northeastern Illinois Univ.

Summer 1993

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é PARRISH LEWIS

QUEEN KEY IS GONNA NEED A BIGGER CROWN With this summer’s Eat My Pussy, the Chicago rapper proves herself a star in the making, ready to carve out a larger role for women in the city’s hip-hop scene.

By LEOR GALIL

C

hicago rapper Queen Key wants to get across two main points with Eat My Pussy. The title of the June release— her debut studio EP—takes care of the first one, she admits with a laugh.

“Besides the title, the message is basically ‘Queen Shit,’” she says. “It’s my attitude—how I feel about what I feel about.”

Queen Shit is also about what Queen Key does—which includes projecting a don’t-fuck-with-me charisma, a mightbe-dangerous sense of mischief, and an unapologetic no-exceptions ownership of herself and her sexuality. It adds up to her own flavor of that hard-to-define X factor that separates the idols from the wannabes. Born Ke’Asha McClure, the 22-year-old commands a cool, inthe-pocket flow, whether she’s rapping about accidentally burning a pizza black, telling an irritating man to go suck his own dick, or proudly call- J

AUGUST 9, 2018 - CHICAGO READER 23

Queen Key has dropped several mixtapes since 2016, and in June she released her first studio EP.

continued from 23 ing herself a “spoiled-ass bitch”—and she does all three on the early Eat My Pussy single “My Way.” “I see her as a megastar,” says Key’s manager, Mikkey Halsted. “I see her as one of the top artists—not just female artists—in the game.” Halsted, who’s been working with Key for almost two years, became one of Chicago’s most celebrated rappers in the aughts, signing with infamous New Orleans label Cash Money during its heyday.

But these days he works mostly behind the scenes, as cofounder of independent hip-hop label Machine Entertainment Group. Key has been on its roster since 2017, and the label is also home to Halsted’s most famous management client, drill star G Herbo. Last fall Herb’s Humble Beast debuted at number 21 on the Billboard 200, and at Lollapalooza last week he appeared higher on the bill than any other Chicago artist.

Key hasn’t yet put up crossover numbers like Herb, but Halsted think she’s got the same potential. The “My Way” video has racked up 6.5 million YouTube views since it went live in September 2017. In April, World Star premiered the video for Key’s remix of the recent FBG Duck hit “Slide,” and with some help from a Chance the Rapper cameo, it’s already topped a million views.

Locally, Key has started showing up on big bills, and her name seems to be on the right people’s lips. Last month she performed at the United Center with Big Sean and Trey Songz (among others) as part of WGCI’s annual Summer Jam. On Sunday, August 19, she’ll be the only woman onstage at Lyrical Lemonade’s inaugural outdoor festival, the Summer Smash, whose 25-artist bill also includes throwback stylist Joey Badass, Soundcloud-rap phenom Trippie Redd, and shapeshifting Chicago star Vic Mensa. “She’s really becoming one of the hottest artists in the city,” says Andrew Barber, founder of influentual hiphop blog Fake Shore Drive. “It’s always difficult to break out, for any artist. It’s more difficult to break as a female artist—she’s in a good place.”

K

ey grew up in the south suburbs, moving among Hazel Crest, Homewood, Markham, Dolton, Flossmoor, and others. “Pretty much every suburb,” Key says. “It really was my mama—I guess she liked the change of scenery.” Her musical career began when she was seven, with the help of an older brother: “We just used piano beats and we recorded with a radio tape,” she says. “The rest is history.”

Key kept making music, mostly with her siblings, in fits and starts throughout her childhood. “It kept reoccurring naturally—I never was really planning on it,” she says.

“It was something that just wouldn’t go away.” In eighth grade, she started uploading freestyle videos to the Internet, but when I ask her what name she used back then so I can search for the clips, she pretends to hang up on me: “Bye,” she says, and laughs. “One day someone’s gonna find ’em. That’s all I can say.”

Key began her rap career in earnest her junior year of high school, after she transferred to Dwight D. Eisenhower in Blue Island. In 2013 she cut her first proper track with

24 CHICAGO READER - AUGUST 9, 2018

QUEEN KEY INTERVIEWED BY KEVIN COVAL AND TARA MAHADEVAN

Part of a pop-up hosted by the Cornerstore podcast, which also includes vendors, a group art show, and sets by Squeak Pivot and Police State. Sun 8/12, 3 PM (event runs 2-7 PM), FDC Studios, 2341 N. Milwaukee, free, all-ages

QUEEN KEY

Part of the Lyrical Lemonade Summer Smash, which also features Joey Badass, Trippie Redd, Vic Mensa, Lil Skies, Ski Mask the Slump God, and many more. Sun 8/19, noon9:45 PM, Douglas Park, 1401 S. Sacramento, $60, $120 for VIP, all-ages

the help of Ric Wilson, at the time a budding rapper who engineered tracks for other MCs at his home studio. He wound up recording a lot of underground drill rappers, including FBG Duck and Lil Jay. Key arrived at Wilson’s door with a mutual friend who’d come for his own session.

“She was like, ‘I be rapping and shit too,’” Wilson remembers. At first he didn’t believe her—he’s met loads of people who say they can rap but never get around to proving it in front of witnesses. When he recorded Key, though, he could tell right away that she’d already put in some time. “It was decent,” Wilson says. “I was like, ‘Damn, if shorty takes it serious, she could be decent at rapping.’

Next thing you know, her name was everywhere.”

At the end of 2015, Key released “Baked as a Pie,” a skeletal single that would soon power her local breakout. She delivers her lines without a lot of heat, but they crackle with her rough-edged wit and headstrong personality: she lies about having bedbugs when she doesn’t want a man spending the night, and snaps back when her grandma sees her weed-reddened eyes by saying nobody’s gonna die. In early 2016 she included the track on her debut mixtape, Your Highness, cohosted by local DJ and rapper Ydot Gdot. He’d been interested in Key ever since DJing a party at a local grammar school (he doesn’t remember which one) where he got a surprising request. “This girl had came up to me like, ‘Hey, can you play some Queen Key?’” he says.

Ydot had heard of Key, but he had no idea she’d already built such a strong grassroots following. He made a point of arranging a meeting with her. “What set her apart was her look—she got that Barbie-doll look,” Ydot says. She also showed a real determination to make her career work.

“I kinda knew it was what I had to do,” Key says. “Literally everything else wasn’t working out for me.” She got fired from a job at the American Girl store in Water Tower Place (“for laughing at a bitch,” she explains) before even finishing orientation, then lost a job at a Buffalo Wild Wings less than a month later. She enrolled at Prairie State College in Chicago Heights, but left after a couple weeks.

“Regular stuff was really not working out,” she says.

Ydot, who’s since hosted mixtapes by the likes of King Yella and FBG Duck, looks back at Your Highness fondly.

“It’s definitely one of my biggest mixtapes,” he says. Ydot came up with the idea to drop Your Highness on April 20, and he and Key teamed up again less than two months later for Beauty in a Beast, which she released on her 20th J birthday: June 7, 2016.

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Queen Key is sending pretty mixed messages about the weather. é PARRISH LEWIS

continued from 24

“Stuff pretty much escalated quickly,” Key says. “I just followed my own strategy and pattern. I was testing myself and testing the people—drop a freestyle, drop a video, and keep building myself.” Her ability to engage with potential fans through YouTube freestyles, tweets, and Instagram posts—not just through studio hits—also has helped her exponential growth.

“She has really good content, she’s always keeping her fans fed, and that’s what’s setting her apart,” Barber says.

“It’s almost hard to keep up with.”

Key linked up with Halsted near the end of 2016. She sent him a direct message on Twitter at the suggestion of one of her hairstylists, Chaquilla Chicago, and the two of them met at Halsted’s Hyde Park restaurant, Mikkey’s Retro Grill. “It was kind of crazy, the connections we had— it was so many one-degree connections between us. We just clicked,” Halsted says. “When she smiles and those dimples get to shining, you can’t tell her no.”

26 CHICAGO READER - AUGUST 9, 2018

Halsted says his decision to manage Key was a nobrainer, and in early 2017 he took the extra step of signing her to Machine Entertainment Group. He admires her energy, star quality, and ability to connect with young women. “She really turns the tables and sticks up for women, and she empowers them—for real,” he says.

“When she walks down the street, you see how these little girls break down crying. I knew immediately this was something special, because she touched a certain part of them that artists rarely touch.”

In his managerial role, Halsted provides guidance and feedback, but he largely stays out of Key’s music-making process. She still operates more or less as she always has: she combs through beats that producers send her, picks what she likes, and works out the songs, all in the comfort of her home. “It’s really not much—just me, some water, some weed, and the beat,” she says. “I got a light in my room, I change the colors and shit—I put on a blue light,

put on a red light.”

Key started working on Eat My Pussy late last year. She picked the title in March, after tweeting “‘Eat My Pussy’ the mixtape dropping 2018.” It was initially a joke, but Halsted loved the idea and they rolled with it. The EP’s artwork, designed to mimic the cover of pop-culture magazine Paper, features Key flanked by shirtless men anonymized by pixelated faces. “We start from where we want to be—she’s gonna be on the cover of that magazine and many magazines like that,” Halsted says. She seems to be on track so far: in June, Chicago-bred culture critic Meaghan Garvey profiled Key for the Fader’s long-running series on emerging artists, Gen F. “My Way,” with its brooding bass line and the nonchalant punch of Key’s rapping, is the high point of Eat My Pussy. But it has competition from Key’s collaborations with established Chicago artists: King Louie, Tink, and Dreezy all appear on the EP. Tink and Dreezy have shown they can go as hard as drill rappers, flirt with R&B, or make crossover pop tracks (demolishing the narrative, still advanced by parachute journalists, that Chicago rap is divided into camps loyal to Keef and Chance). They also share a common cause with Key: carving out a bigger role for women in the city’s current hip-hop scene. As her manager says, Key understands that she has a part to play in this evolution. “From Shawna to Da Brat, we’ve had a lot of female rappers in Chicago,” Halsted explains. “We’ve had so many that have reached the mainstream and could have been megastars. And she accepts the history of her position.”

As much momentum and support as Key’s career has behind it, she’s still new enough that lots of hip-hop fans don’t know her yet—and when they find out, she just might knock them for a loop.

Lyrical Lemonade editor Elliot Montanez expects that to happen during Key’s set at the Summer Smash. He and LL founder Cole Bennett began planning the one-day festival in the spring, pooling their Rolodexes to book talent. Montanez had known about Key for years—he manages local rapper Femdot, who befriended Key in high school and last year collaborated with her on a remix of Cam’Ron’s “Hey Ma.” Though the crowd at the Summer Smash will be primed to see Soundcloud stars, backpack rappers, and Lil B, Montanez doesn’t think Key will be an outlier.

“I think she fits in,” he says. “Honestly, I think Queen Key could out-rap some of those artists on the lineup. I think once we put her in front of the Lyrical Lemonade audience, a lot of our fans will gravitate toward her.”

Halsted wants to expose Key to new listeners by putting her on a tour with G Herbo, the biggest name on his roster.

Herb recently released Swervo, an album-length collaboration with producer Southside, and Key is working on a sequel to Eat My Pussy. Halsted wants to translate Key’s viral success into radio plays and Billboard hits—and he talks about those things as if she’s already achieved them.

“As an artist, she’s one of the pillars of our culture right now,” he says. “I’m so glad that she DMed me—I think it changed both our lives.” v

m @imLeor

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Meet Chicago’s hottest openly gay 15-year-old rapper

Kidd Kenn is unapologetic about who he is—so of course he has a cosign from the equally defiant Queen Key.

By MATT HARVEY

W

hen 15-year-old Dontrell showed up at the Reader’s offices for an interview, he was fresh off a delayed return flight after his first visit to New York.

He’s better known as Kidd Kenn, Chicago’s most popular openly gay male rapper, and he was exhausted—his whirlwind trip east had included a meeting with Def Jam and a musicvideo shoot.

“We were there for one day,” said his manager and family friend, Sharron Beverly of Family First Music Group. (She asked that we not use Kidd’s real last name.) “We had the meeting with Def Jam, and then we had to shoot a video for Kidd’s new song.”

Kidd seemed reserved at first, despite the boisterous image suggested by his brash delivery and frequently explicit bars. In a viral freestyle over the instrumental to FBG Duck’s “Slide,” he cannonballs into the track by tweaking the original’s opening line about a “real nigga party”: “It’s a faggot party baby, you cannot get in.”

Kidd didn’t do much talking until we hit on the topic of his tumultuous relationship with the educational system. I asked about his experience in elementary school. His response: “Which one?”

He went on to list four schools—one of

Kidd Kenn at the Reader offices é MATT HARVEY

which he attended two separate times—and explained in generous detail exactly why he left, or was kicked out of, each one.

“It’s not ‘fuck school,’ but I didn’t really enjoy it,” he said. “I didn’t like teachers, and people my age irritated me.”

By the time he reached sixth grade—that is, about three years ago—Kidd had discovered his passion for rapping. He started by posting videos of himself on Facebook and Instagram, performing freestyles of popular songs. Beverly chimed in: “He was tagging me in his IG videos and begging me to take him to the studio,” she recalled. “I said ‘no’ at first because he was too young.” But as Kidd’s social-media following grew, she had to admit that his skills justified a session, regardless of his age.

I hadn’t learned Kidd’s age till I contacted Beverly about interviewing him. I was surprised, but not because he looks especially old—he’s about five foot six, with just a bit of fuzz on his upper lip. He doesn’t sound

15, though: his lyrics are often precociously explicit, and when he started out his mother wasn’t a fan. “She didn’t like it at first, of course,” he said. “Now, though, she likes my music. It’s funny to her sometimes.”

On his latest single, “Eriod” (featuring Queen Key), he raps, “P stands for pussy, so my bitches say ‘eriod’ / He say he like girls but to me he seem curious.” His lyrics aren’t just explicit but also demonstrate maturity and self-awareness. He’s unapologetic in his identity. With a little coaxing, he admitted that he understands the significance of what he’s doing. “I try to be humble most of the time,” he said. “But honestly, when I’m by myself I be like, ‘Damn, I’m cold as hell.’”

Kidd mentioned many artists who’ve taught him different aspects of how to be himself. He began with his favorite rapper, Nicki Minaj, who also inspired his name. “Nicki taught me not to give a fuck,” he said. “Nicki is Barbie, and because I’m a boy, I decided I would be Ken.”

He also shouted out fellow east-side rapper G Herbo: “Herb taught me how to be gangsta.”

But Kidd said he’s not a drill rapper himself.

“People think just because of the sound and being from Chicago that it’s automatically drill,” he said. “But I don’t rap about gangbanging or killing anybody.”

Kidd’s most important relationships are with his close friends. “They make sure I’m being myself all the time,” he said. “It’s important to me that I never act different towards them. If I could share the space in my mind with anybody, it would be my friend Yodi, ’cause he would have me dying all day.”

He especially likes hanging out with his friends in the studio—when the subject came up in our interview, it was the first time he really lit up. “I have more fun in the studio than anywhere else,” he says. “When my friends are there, I get to be goofy and crack jokes with them.” That goofy personality, Kidd said, fuels his best bars. “I like to write things that are most relatable to myself. I like to joke and have fun, so I sometimes write lyrics that make me laugh. This new song ‘Eriod’ is probably my favorite one I’ve written so far, ’cause it’s the funniest.”

Kidd takes his music much more seriously than he takes himself. “Being in the studio is fun, but it’s fun because I get to make music,” he stressed. “Collaborating with different producers and artists is dope, because we’re in there creating something that’s genuine.”

Unlike “Eriod,” most of Kidd’s recordings are freestyles over instrumentals he likes.

Those freestyles have been the spark for his success, but he’s more than ready to drop his first EP of entirely original material, Childish (he hasn’t set a release date yet). “This is the first thing I’m putting out that’s going to be me on all-original production,” he said. “I’m excited for this because we been working on it for a while.”

Things have been happening fast for Kidd, but according to his manager he’s stayed impressively levelheaded. “The fact that he’s only 15, accomplishing what he has—the way he handles himself is amazing to me,” Beverly said. “It’s like dealing with somebody who’s been in the business for a while.”

With any luck, Kidd will be in the business for a while longer. “I knew I was good, but I didn’t know I was gonna be this good,” he said.

“I’m just trying to be myself on the track, and be comfortable.” v

m @MattheMajor AUGUST 9, 2018 - CHICAGO READER 27

Find your groove.

Our next session of classes begins the week of September 4.

Join Chicago’s most vibrant music and arts community with a group class. Learn to play, pick, dance, jam, and much more.

To sign up today or browse our full class schedule, visit us online at

oldtownschool.org 28 CHICAGO READER - AUGUST 9, 2018

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Recommended and notable shows and critics’ insights for the week of August 9

MUSIC

b ALL AGES F

PICK OF THE WEEK

Rico Nasty sets a straight line for stardom on Nasty RAPPER MARIA KELLY, better known as Rico Nasty, is transparent to a fault.

When XXL recently asked her why she signed to Atlantic, she said, “Because I have a 2-year-old. And these bitches don’t! See y’all in five years, when y’all bitches is burnt and broke. I will be sitting cute and clothed, fuck all that.” Born in D.C. and raised in the DMV (that’s the D.C. Metro area that spans Maryland and Virginia; she grew up in Prince George’s County, Maryland), Rico forged her superstar-on-the-rise persona across six mixtapes and the usual social media suspects. She’d switch up aesthetic styles as frequently as she’d try on a new wig, throwing candy-coated trap singles that reference Nickelodeon at one moment (“Hey Arnold”), and the next dropping an entire mixtape of slightly softer material built for an alter-ego named Tacobella (for last year’s Tales of Tacobella). All that stylistic juggling has benefitted Rico on the run up to her latest mixtape, June’s Nasty, on which her staccato flow and ironclad braggadocio remain a constant as she juggles disparate sounds of rap’s nouveau; Rico shows she can scream-rap like the best Soundcloud rapper on “Rage” and then transition to the comparatively dreamlike “Lala,” and to her credit she makes it sound as easy as a tech-savvy millennial posting a photo to Instagram. —LEOR GALIL é MARIO KRISTIAN

RICO NASTY, MALIIBU MIITCH

Thu 8/9, 7 PM, Lincoln Hall, 2424 N. Lincoln, sold out. b

THURSDAY9 Rico Nasty See Pick of the Week above.

Maliibu Miitch opens. 7 PM, Lincoln Hall, 2424 N. Lincoln, sold out. b Spirit Adrift Starless and Sanford Parker open. 8:30 PM, Empty Bottle, 1035 N. Western, $12. 21+ Multi-instrumentalist Nate Garrett has been upfront in interviews about his struggles with alcoholism that underlie the painful, personal cry from the void that is the 2016 debut of Spirit Adrift, Chained to Oblivion. In those days, Spirit Adrift was a oneman band; Garrett meticulously created its heavy,

bludgeoning sound layer by layer, summoning a haunting roar that sounds like it comes from a solitary monster who’s the last one of his kind. But what a difference a year makes: the Spirit Adrift on 2017’s Curse of Conception is a full band, with a lineup that includes bassist Chase Mason, with whom Garrett also plays in Arizona death metal outfit Gatecreeper. The sound on the new album builds on the molten lava roots of its predecessor with fierce new aggression, and folds classic metal, southern boogie, and thrash influences into a lean mean versatile machine. Spirit Adrift is not an overtly political band, but Garrett told Noisey that his feelings of physical illness after the 2016 election were a motivating factor behind it all; it’s a huge leap forward for a band that has great things in its future. —MONICA KENDRICK

FRIDAY10 Luke Vibert Christ Widman, Striz, DJ Warp, and DJ Form open. 10 PM, Smart Bar, 3730 N. Clark, $20, $15 before midnight, $12 in advance. 21+ If you’re looking for a musical figure to represent the vast and boundless aesthetics of electronic music, you can’t go wrong with Luke Vibert, a producer who’s released music under more stage names than some midcareer musicians have albums (he’s got ten, including his given name, Wagon Christ, and Plug). A native of Cornwall, UK, Vibert imbibed electronic music, hip-hop, and patches of underground rock and pop music while growing up in the 80s. Since he started producing dance music of his own in the 90s, he’s borrowed ele-

ments from whatever has sounded right to him, pouring samples atop melodies that form the foundation of techno, drum ’n’ bass, trip-hop, disco, acid house, or any other interlinked electronic subgenre he feels like toying with at any particular moment.

The results sound as if Vibert’s taken slabs and unwieldy chunks of pop music history, thrown them into a rock tumbler, and polished them until he creates harmony without disrupting the distinctive bump of what makes each bit of his source material unique. “I’ve just got the same old shit I’ve had for years, plodding away at sequencing samples, not really knowing how the fuck else you can do it,” he told Fact in 2015. These days, his process remains the same, but his new music sparkles as brightly as it did when he first emerged. “JJP,” off May’s Turn EP (People of Rhythm), clips, honks, squeaks, and squawks like the best mutant dance music J

AUGUST 9, 2018 - CHICAGO READER 29

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Spirit Adrift é JAMIE LANGLEY

continued from 29

that can be credited to Vibert—or any of his other names. —LEOR GALIL

SATURDAY11 Eleventh Dream Day, Health & Beauty 9 PM, Hideout, 1354 W. Wabansia, sold out. 21+

John Zorn’s Simulacrum 8 PM, Reggie’s Rock Club, 2105 S. State, $50-$85. 17+

Throughout its thirty-five years as a band, Eleventh Dream Day has regularly sprinkled its incendiary sets with carefully chosen covers of obscure and well-known rock songs. Since I started listening to them, I’ve accumulated many vivid memories, such as hearing them trace the seething rise and fall of the Dream Syndicate’s “Halloween,” embrace the idiotic hokum of Bachman Turner Overdrive’s “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet” (with singer Rick Rizzo masterfully replicating the song’s trademark stuttering chorus), and ripping like a buzzsaw through the Urinals’ punk masterpiece “I’m a Bug.” But few of their covers say more about their prime inspiration than the music they’ve tackled by Neil Young, including mid-career material like 1981’s “Southern Pacific” and early classics such as his debut solo single, 1969’s “The Loner.” Tonight the band performs a full-album set of Zuma, one of Young’s greatest efforts, his 1975 album with Crazy Horse. Several distinct strains of Young’s genius explode across the effort, including the lumbering, countrified strum-fest “Don’t Cry No Tears,” the ambling front-porch picking of “Pardon My Heart,” and especially the grinding dirge of “Cortez the Killer”—a structural model that the band has borrowed in their own music to house some of Rizzo’s most transcendent, scrappy guitar solos.

Back in the late 80s, John Zorn famously crammed many of his disparate musical interests into the work of a single ensemble. His quintet Naked City embodied his rapid-cut aesthetic; every couple of bars the ensemble abruptly and precisely switched tone and style, communicating a short-attentionspan ethos that foreshadowed the age of information overload. In recent decades he’s expanded his work as a composer, writing music to address specific styles including extreme rock music, hardcore, and prog. During a two-year burst from 2015 to 2016 he composed enough music for Simulacrum, a trio with organist John Medeski,guitarist Matt Hollenberg (Cleric), and drummer Kenny Grohowski, to fill six albums—mashing up bits of heavy metal, prog, and the jazz fusion sound of Tony Williams’s Lifetime with guitarist John McLaughlin into a brutal but virtuosic high-velocity attack. Various guests have appeared on Simulacrum albums; on last year’s The Garden of Earthly Delights electric bassist Trevor Dunn (Mr. Bungle) added serious low end in tightly registered unison passages with Hollenberg, and improvising vocalist Sara Serpa occasionally contributed ethereal countermelodies. Though the tone of Simulacrum significantly shifts from recording to recording, and sometimes enfolds different ingredients from surf music to Morricone-esque soundscapes, the rigor at its core remains indisputable. These days Zorn generally prefers writing music for hand-picked ensembles like this one

The evening is complemented by the presence of Chicago trio Health & Beauty, who will cover Young’s 1974 album On the Beach. Though it’s not

30 CHICAGO READER - AUGUST 9, 2018

as stellar as Zuma, there’s no messing with loosely funky “Walk On,” the crude acoustic blues of “For the Turnstiles,” and the brooding “Revolution Blues.” Plus, the prospect of hearing the group’s leader Brian Sulpizio unwind across these jams is hard to resist. —PETER MARGASAK

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Find more music listings at chicagoreader.com/soundboard.

Gilberto Santa Rosa performs at Festival Cubano on Sunday.

This weekend’s festivals: Cuban, classical, and much more

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rather than performing it himself, but for this rare event he’ll join the trio for part of the set. —PETER MARGASAK

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Festival Cubano This massive celebration of Cuban culture— food, games, music, and more—features performances by the likes of Gilberto Santa Rosa, Oscar D’León, Adalberto Alvarez, and Lisa Lisa. Fri 8/10 through Sun 8/12, 11 AM, Riis Park, 6100 W. Fullerton, thecubanfestival.com, $40 three-day pass, $15 per day, all-ages Lift Off Chicago In its inaugural year, this world-music festival focuses on reggaeton, including sets from huge names such as Maluma, Wisin, and Alex Sensation. Sat 8/11 and Sun 8/12, 1 PM, Union Park, 1501 W. Randolph, $159 two-day pass, $99 per day, all-ages My House Music Festival See also Gossip Wolf, page 38. For its third edition, this party devoted to the origins and influence of house music presents DJs such as Tim “Spinnin’” Schommer and Hot

Mix 5 cofounder Kenny “Jammin” Jason. Sat 8/11 and Sun 8/12, noon, Cermak and Morgan, myhousemusicfest.com, free, all-ages

John Zorn é SCOTT IRVINE

Thirsty Ears Festival See also Gossip Wolf, page 38. A street festival for classical music? The idea has caught on, and the third annual Thirsty Ears features the Tiffin Brothers, the Zafa Collective, Kate Dillingham, and many more. Sat 8/11 and Sun 8/12, 1 PM, Wilson between Hermitage and Ravenswood, acmusic.org, $10 suggested donation, all-ages

Josie Dunne Max Subar opens. 7 PM, Lincoln Hall, 2424 N. Lincoln, $15. b

Blackstone Summer Blackstone Bicycle Works, a community bike shop that offers education and training to neighborhood youth, hosts a block party with live music from Christian JaLon, Aaliyah Allah, Kari, and others. Sun 8/12, noon, Blackstone and 61st, experimentalstation. org/blackstone, free, all-ages

La Grange native Josie Dunne muscled her way onto the stages of local bars and venues at age 13. Four years later she signed a deal with Atlantic, and spent her final high school years traveling back and forth between suburban Chicago and Nashville while finessing her craft and writing for well-known musicians such as Kelly Clarkson (who passed on a song written by Dunne) and crossover social-media star Jacob Sartorius (who recorded “Chapstick,” cowritten by Dunne). “I’d go to Nashville to work with the top songwriters and producers in the world,” Dunne recently told Chicago Magazine. “Then I’d go home, and no one really cared. I felt like I was Hannah Montana.” The songs that appear on Dunne’s debut EP, To Be the Little Fish, bear some resemblance to the hits of Miley Cyrus; the Motown-gone-Radio Disney whoosh of “Old School” is perfect for anyone who may J

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MUSIC

Find more music listings at chicagoreader.com/soundboard.

Josie Dunne

anthems, giant prop spaceships, and yes, whiteboy Afros. Personally, I find this all very charming—and much more fun and stylish than today’s meaningless and overindulgent pop—but once you get down to the nuts and bolts of ELO, it all really comes down to the songs. ELO svengali Jeff Lynne learned the songwriting trade in the 60s by hashing it out in R&B bands in his industrial hometown of Birmingham, England, before joining forces with the Nightriders in 1966. The group soon changed its name to the Idle Race and had chart success in the UK; their polished, psychedelic baroque pop even influenced a young Marc Bolan of T. Rex. In 1970 Lynne joined the flamboyant proto-power popsters the Move, who had put out catchy worldwide hit singles including 1967’s “Night of Fear” and “Flowers in the Rain” while the Beatles were off recording extravagant concept LPs. That same year, bandleader Roy Wood decided he needed a change of pace and the Move transformed into Electric Light Orchestra. When Wood left in 1972 to pursue his strange roots-rock/glam fantasies in Wizzard, Lynne was left piloting the ELO ship. All of his years of pop practice began to pay off, blossoming into beautiful ballads such as “Can’t Get It Out of my Head” and “Strange Magic”; pummeling riff rockers like “Do Ya” and “Don’t Bring Me Down”; groovers like “Evil Woman”; and the updated, colorful Beatle-esque pop of “Mr. Blue Sky” and “Livin’ Thing.” Lynne’s writing and smooth, rich pop constructions made him an in-demand producer for the likes of Tom Petty, Roy Orbison, Roger McGuinn, and (following the murder of John Lennon in 1980) all of the remaining Beatles, with whom he helped finish left-behind Lennon tracks such as the 1996 release “Real Love.” By the mid-80s, Lynne’s production work had essentially caused ELO to stop recording and playing live, but the group shocked their fans with a new LP, Zoom, in 2001, and shocked them even more in 2014 when they began performing in the UK as Jeff Lynne’s ELO. The following year they released a classic-sounding new LP, Alone in the Universe, which they supported in

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have been enchanted by the irresistible sparkle of Miley’s “Party in the USA”—even those turned off by its hip-hop references. Which is to say, Dunne’s squeaky-clean songwriting and singing should be omnipresent in no time. —LEOR GALIL

Jonah Parzen-Johnson Dave Miller headlines. 9 PM, Elastic, 3429 W. Diversey, $10. b

In the 1960s, a new creative discipline emerged when English and European jazz fans realized that no matter how much they liked the distinctively American form of music, they lacked the cultural experiences to play it with all the nuance of their idols. As they looked to their own roots for inspiration, European Free Improvisation was born.

In recent years, Brooklyn-based baritone saxophone and synthesizer player Jonah Parzen-Johnson had an epiphany similar to those European jazz musicians that came before him. When he was a teen, the former Hyde Park resident took lessons from Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) reedist and bandleader Mwata Bowden, and attended several jazz-founded educational programs. But while he found the

32 CHICAGO READER - AUGUST 9, 2018

2016 with their first U.S. dates (California and New York only), which seemed to sell out within seconds.

ELO was rightfully inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last year, and this summer my prayers are being answered: a full U.S. tour is happening after 30 years. I’m going to be at the Chicago stop tonight, pumping my fists hard. —STEVE KRAKOW

Anatomy of Habit Statiqblom and Silent Age open. 8:30 PM, Empty Bottle, 1035 N. Western, $8. 21+ Chicago experimental-rock collective Anatomy of Habit have been conjuring up crushing gloom and doom throughout their ten years of existence, and they’ve recently moved into their next phase.

Fronted by sole constant member Mark Solotroff, Anatomy of Habit’s shapeshifting lineup has seen a who’s who of heavy and weird music pass through its ranks, including John McEntire of Tortoise, Will Lindsay of Indian, Noah Leger of Facs, Greg Ratajczak of Plague Bringer, and Dylan Posa of Cheer-Accident. Tonight’s show is the first performance of a totally reconstructed lineup, which features relative newcomer Alex Latus on guitar, dexterous Mute Duo and Rash drummer Skyler Rowe, heady pedal-steel master Sam Wagster on bass, and Solotroff’s Bloodyminded bandmate Isidro Reyes on the signature Anatomy of Habit scrap-metal percussion rig. Solotroff is eager to show the world the band’s new members, and is especially excited for the new musical steps the group is making.

He notes that there will be a few directional shifts, including writing “short” songs that fit into the eight- to ten-minute range (and that’s short compared to the two 20-minute tracks that make up the band’s flawless 2014 effort, Ciphers + Axioms). Anatomy of Habit has always been an explosive, uncompromising band to watch perform no matter who Solotroff has backing him onstage, so it goes without saying that the debut of their current incarnation won’t be one to miss. —LUCA CIMARUSTI v

experience enriching, he concluded that his own different cultural experiences as a white, middle-class male meant that he could not claim AfricanAmerican traditions as his own. So he developed an idiosyncratic blend of Appalachian folk melody, free-jazz sonics, and primitive electronics, which so far is best heard on last year’s I Try to Remember Where I Come From (Clean Feed). Parzen-Johnson’s hooky turns and burbling rhythms are designed to draw listeners into both his own story and those of the people he’s met during several years of touring regularly around the country. He’s recently recorded an album’s worth of new material, and that’s what he will play during tonight’s concert, which is the last of a five-date tour with Chicagoan guitarist Dave Miller. —BILL MEYER

WEDNESDAY15 Jeff Lynne’s ELO 8 PM, Allstate Arena, 6920 Mannheim, Rosemont, sold out. b I realize that to some, Electric Light Orchestra epitomize the overblown excess of the 70s; in their heyday they delved into disco, synthesizers, huge

Jonah Parzen-Johnson é COURTESY THE ARTIST

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INA MAE TAVERN & PACKAGED GOODS $$ R 1415 N. Wood 773-360-8320 inamaetavern.com

FOOD & DRINK

T

Ina Mae Tavern is New Orleans in a bottle

Chef Brian Jupiter embraces the food of his foundation.

By MIKE SULA

Gumbo ya-ya (top) and gumbo z’herbes é MATT SCHERWIN

here’s a spooky ghost sign on the back brick wall at Ina Mae Tavern & Packaged Goods, a faded Dixie Beer logo that figuratively booms “Welcome to the Big Easy” in the overdrawn yat of a voice actor in a New Orleans Tourism Marketing Corporation promo.

If memory serves, Wicker Park’s old Beachwood Inn never offered the iconic lager of New Orleans, whose brewery was flooded and gutted in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, then reborn as a contract brewer last year.

The Beachwood was more of an Old Style situation.

Since that dive’s demise in 2015, the Pioneer Tavern Group—the folks who offer brotastic diversions for guests of the Pony, Lottie’s, and Frontier—have moved in and installed the veneer of a New Orleans packaged goods store. There’s even a SnoWizard ice shaving machine next to the takeout window behind the bar, to administer to passersby the syrupy, frozen NOLA street treat, with or without a shot.

Those flourishes—along with the Alligator Bob’s brand gator jerky, Café du Monde chicory coffee, and Bigfoot Air Fresheners displayed and available for purchase above the bar—may well come off like a hard tweak to the nose. The good news is that the group’s executive chef is Brian Jupiter, he of the whole roasted gator feasts, who’s embraced the food of the city he was born, fed, and bred in. It’s something he’s been talking about for years, though his menu at Frontier has always been dotted with Cajun-creole references, winking at the south with stuffed peppadew peppers, barbecue shrimp, and char-grilled oysters smothered in creole butter.

Those oysters make the menu at Ina Mae, which is named for Jupiter’s great-grandmother. They’re broad bivalves smothered in molten cayenne-tarragon compound butter, and while you’ll never taste their terroir, they’re hot, gooey gobs of slippery goodness just the same.

There have been plenty of newish restaurants tapping into Chicago’s craving for a Cajun-creole connection beyond the Mardi Gras bender. Sure, you’ll find approximations of the real thing at Fifolet Cajun & Cocktails, Pearl’s Southern Comfort, Luella’s Southern Kitchen, and the multitude of Viet-Cajun-style boiled seafood feedbag operations.

But not since the late, great Analogue has a chef with such deep roots in the culture put it all out there.

J

AUGUST 9, 2018 - CHICAGO READER 33

Search the Reader’s online database of thousands of Chicago-area restaurants—and add your own review—at chicagoreader.com/food.

FOOD & DRINK

continued from 33

A pair of gumbos—the classic ya-ya and the vegetarian z’herbes—are worthy case studies. The latter, a swamp of savory greens mined with tofu, seems a gratuitous sop to plant eaters, but it’s surprisingly satisfying; meanwhile the former comes with a correctly thickened dark chocolate-colored roux swarming with okra, fat shrimp, and hidden deposits of potato salad. Eggplant Orleans is another touchstone, if one more rarefied, a stack of lightly fried slices aubergine smothered in a pink-tinged crawfish beurre blanc.

Plump crab cakes studded with shrimp form pinwheels over a shallow pool of creamed corn, displaying Jupiter’s facility with the food of NOLA’s various class strata. The dirty rice, its inherent liveriness a tad restrained, is still on point.

Of course, there are po’boys, divided into classics like oyster, fried shrimp, roast beef debris, and the one-two-punch shrimp-andbeef “peacemaker” as well as novelty varieties like Nashville hot chicken with avocado and collard slaw and fried green tomato with shrimp remoulade. To a one they’re scarfable, but they can suffer in execution—the sandwiches come in three sections, ideal for sharing, but on each occasion I had them the bread hadn’t been sliced all the way through, which led to delicious deposits scattered across the table.

At the heart of the menu is Jupiter’s grandmother’s chicken, buttermilk brined and hard fried, its crackling batter seasoned with Cajun spice, sage, and rosemary, and served with a scant drizzle of chile-spiked honey. The last, along with Jupiter’s hot sauce, giardiniera, and pickled okra, is for sale behind the bar, but I wish it came to the table too, to lubricate the breast meat and sweeten the drop biscuit that comes with each order.

Ina Mae also does volume in boiled or fried shellfish (and catfish) by the half pound, expressed most dramatically in a “poor man’s seafood tower,” a heaped ziggurat of deep-fried aquatic creatures, hush puppies, and potatoes bearing enough lipoproteins to deluge the collective bloodstream of three healthy adults.

Advancing a similar agenda is a sevenstory doberge cake, a classic always served cold that alternates layers of vanilla sponge with chocolate pudding. Chocolate buttercream and fondant jacket the exterior, while whipped cream and pickled strawberries laser through the richness. The sublime beig-

34 CHICAGO READER - AUGUST 9, 2018

Ina Mae’s fried chicken, served with a drop biscuit é MATT SCHWERIN

nets—warm, pillowy pleasures of fried choux pastry snowed over with confectioner’s sugar—make those cranked out for the tourists at Café du Monde seem like tennis balls.

Oddly, there’s no Dixie Beer behind the bar, but there is Abita and eight others on tap, as well as a list of cheekily named complications on classic cocktails, like the La Louisianne—a Sazerac lurks in there somewhere amid the Benedictine and vermouth—and the Papa Doble, a full-bodied and pleasantly bitter daiquiri. Good old-fashioned peanuts and Coke are gussied up with cherry cola and Jim Beam rye.

There are no cheap hurricanes, and the Beachwood’s original checkerboard tile floor has never seen so little vomit.

Last January part of the old dive’s roof collapsed during the buildout, but that floor is strong, and it says something about what’s going on at Ina Mae. For all the effort put into the optics, its sturdy foundation is the food of its chef, who once again excels in spite of his surroundings. v

The ghost sign é MATT SCHWERIN

m @MikeSula

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JOBS

General

(Hoffman Estates, IL) Tate & Lyle Americas LLC seeks SAP MM/ IM/WM Analyst w/ Bach or for equiv deg in CS, Bus, Bus Adm, Eng or rel fld & 5 yrs progr exp in job offered or in SAP MM, IM & WM modules in ECC 6.0 & exposure to Opentext Vendor invoice mngnt, incl 5 yrs exp in SAP proj deliv in MM, IM & WM modules through entire lifecycle; syst analy, design, config, custom, integr, test & sup of SAP ECC solut; SAP MM, IM & WM submodules that incl master data, outline agrmnts, purch requis, purch ordrs, invoice proc; SAP MM, IM,WM modules config & integr w/ other SAP modules like SD/FI/COPA/PP; devlp funct specif for BW reports & data convers load interfaces for BW rel to MM,IM & WM modules; & conduct blue prnt wrkshps to gather reqs from bus users in SAP MM, IM & WM modules.

Dom & Intl trvl up to 25% of time.

Send CV and cov ltr to L. Donley, 2200 E. Eldorado, Decatur, IL 62521 FIELD PROJECT CONTROLS Engineer with Arcadis U.S., Inc. (Chicago, IL)- Monitor & measure field progress of construction prjcts. Position works at client sites in the U.S. & reports to company office in Chicago, IL. Reqrmnts incl: Bach’s in Civil Eng’g, Industrial Eng’g, Construction Eng’g, Construction Management or reltd field & 1 yr of exp. Arcadis is EO & AA employer. For full details on all reqrmnts & to apply online: http://bit. ly/FieldPrControlsEngr CAPITAL ONE SEEKS a Software Engineer in Rolling Meadows, IL (multiple positions available) to perform technical design, development, modification, and implementation of computer applications using existing and emerging technology platforms.

Requires a bach. + 3 yrs. of exp.

Must pass company’s assessment. See full req’s & apply online: https://www.capitalonecaree rs.com/ Req #R52131.

Find hundreds of Readerrecommended restaurants, exclusive video features, and sign up for weekly news chicagoreader.com/ food.

DIVISION BY AUSTIN

2.5 rm Studio, on bus and train line. $575/mo + utils & sec.

708-307-2440

STUDIO $600-$699 Chicago, Hyde Park Arms Hotel, 5316 S. Harper, elevator bldg, phon e/cable, switchboard, fridge, priv bath, lndry, $165/wk, $350/bi-wk or $650/mo. Call 773-493-3500

STUDIO $700-$899 LARGE ONE BEDROOM near

red line. 6822 N. Wayne. Hardwood floors. Pets OK. $995/month. Heat included. Available 10/1.

(773) 761-4318

LARGE STUDIO APARTMENT

near red line. 6826 N. Wayne. Hardwood floors. Pets OK. $775/month.

Heat included. Available 9/1.

(773) 761-4318

LARGE STUDIO APARTMENT

near Loyola Park. 1339 W. Estes.

Hardwood floors. Cats OK. $775/ month. (Heat included). Available 10/1 (773) 761-4318

STUDIO $900 AND OVER HIGHRISE 42ND FL. Studio lakefront condo Sept. 1. Free Internet, utilities, cable. Granite counters, tiled floor/backsplash. Spectacular city views. See amenities at www.2626lakeview.com. $1,350/ month. 773-871-2600.

STUDIO OTHER EAST CHICAGO - Harborside Apartments accepting applications for SECTION 8 1 & 2 Bedroom Apartments. Apply Wednesdays ONLY from 12pm to 4pm at 3610 Alder St. Applications are to be filled out on site. Adult applicants must provide a current picture ID and SS card.

ACCOUNTANT: ELK GROVE

Village IL. Analyze info, prep financial reports to determine/maintain record of assets, liabilities, profit & loss, tax. Recordkeeping & accounting systems, making use of current tech.

Compute taxes owed & prepare tax returns. Bachelor’s in Accounting, Law or Business Admin, 2 yrs exp.

Must speak Polish. Res: Arrow Trans Corp; acc@arrowtrans.net

AirCargo Americas LLC. Accountant in Chicago, IL. Bachelor’s in Accounting and 3 yrs exp. in Accounting or Billing, to include knowledge of US and Russian accounting policies. Proficiency in Russian req. Travel to Russia and Europe req. Apply to: AirCargo Americas LLC, PO Box 661121, Chicago, IL 60666.

IT/SOFTWARE: RAISE MARKETPLACE, INC. seeks in Chica-

go, IL: Senior Mobile Engineer with BS in Info Sys Mgmt, Comp Sci, or Comp Eng plus 3 yrs exp in job offered or sub sim pos. Send resume to hr@raise.com (ref. no. L2663) or Attn: Mike Arwine, 11 E. Madison St, Flr 4, Chicago, IL 60602.

Marble refinisher. honest, reliable, skilled. Join our team, good pay, bonus and 50% Health Benefits Call (773) 850-0286 OR Email mike.sungloss@gmail.com c/o Mike or Perla

REAL ESTATE RENTALS

STUDIO $500-$599 CHICAGO, CAL PARK & Blue Island: Studio $625 & up; 1BR $700 & up; 2BR $885 & up. Heat, Appls, Balcony, Carpet, Laundry, Parking.

Call 708-388-0170

6930 S. SOUTH SHORE DRIVE Studios & 1BR, INCL. Heat, Elec, Cking gas & PARKING, $585-$925, Country Club Apts 773-752-2200

7425 S. COLES - 1 BR $620, 2

BR $735, Includes Free heat & appliances & cooking gas. (708) 424-4216 Kalabich Mgmt

û NO SEC DEP û 6829 S. Perry.

1BR. $530/mo HEAT INCL 773-955-5105

76TH SAGANAW, 1-2 bedroom

apartments with beautiful hardwood floors. Heat & appliances included. $615-$770/mo. 773-445-0329 NICE ROOM w/stove, fridge & bath Near Aldi, Walgreens, Beach, Red Line & Buses. Elevator & Laundry. $133/wk & up. 773-275-4442 BIG ROOM with stove, fridge, bath & nice wood floors. Near Red Line & Buses. Elevator & Laundry, Shopping. $121/wk + up. 773-561-4970

Forest Park: 1BR new tile, energy efficient windows, lndry facilitities, a/c, incls heat - natural gas, $895/ mo Luis 708-366-5602 lv msg NO SEC DEP

7801 S. Bishop. 2BR. $610/mo.

HEAT INCL 773-955-5106

917 E. MARQUETTE 2Bd $900

1 Month Free & No Security, Section 8 Welcome. Niki 773-808-2043

1 BR $700-$799

AUBURN 1 BR APARTMENTS

available for rent. $730 Per Month.

Call 708-596-1828 or 312-402-1030

TECHNICAL SPECIALIST: ELK

Grove Village IL. Plan, direct, coord, install, maintain: electric systems, electronic data processing, alarms, monitoring, info/logistic, monitoring systems on new & existing commercial buildings to optimize op of a transp comp. HS. 2 yrs exp as technical specialist or electrical systems installer. Res: Arrow Trans Corp; acc@arrowtrans.net

NEWLY REMOD 1BR & Studios starting at $580. No sec dep, move in fee or app fee. Free heat/hot water. 1155 W. 83rd St., 773-619-0204

LARGE SUNNY ROOM w/fridge & microwave. Near Oak Park, Green Line & Buses. 24 hr Desk, Parking Lot $101/week & Up. (773)378-8888

HYDE PARK- near UC, Cozy 1BR $800 & Large Studio $750. Heated, hdwd floors, quiet building.

773-363-5182 between 12p-4p

CROSSROADS HOTEL SRO SINGLE RMS Private bath, PHONE,

CABLE & MAIDS. 1 Block to Orange Line 5300 S. Pulaski 773-581-1188

CHICAGO WESTSIDE nice 1BR Apartment, Austin Area, quiet building, $750/mo + sec. Laundry room, heat included. 773-575-9283

Ashland Hotel nice clean rms.

24 hr desk/maid/TV/laundry/air.

Low rates daily/weekly/monthly.

South Side. Call 773-376-5200

9147 S. Ashland. 1BR $780, clean & secure, hdwd flrs, dinein Kit, appls, laundry. U Pay gas & elec. No Pets. 312-914-8967.

1 BR UNDER $700 NEWLY REMODELED UNITS

61st & King Dr. 3 Bd/2Ba, Washer/ Dry Hook-up, Alarm, 61st & Racine - 1Bd/1Ba, 1 year Free Heat.

Chicago Heights 4 Bed, 2 Full baths, SFH. Other locations available. Approved credit receive 1 month free rent.

For More Info Call 773.412.1153

7022 S. SHORE DRIVE Impecca-

bly Clean Highrise STUDIOS, 1 & 2 BEDROOMS Facing Lake & Park.

Laundry & Security on Premises.

Parking & Apts. Are Subject to Availability. TOWNHOUSE APARTMENTS 773-288-1030

MIDWAY AREA/63RD KEDZIE Deluxe Studio 1 & 2 BRs. All

modern oak floors, appliances, Security system, on site maint. clean & quiet, Nr. transp. From $445. 773582-1985 (espanol)

PRE-SPRING SPECIAL - CHICAGO South Side Beautiful Studios, 1,2,3 & 4 BR’s, Sec 8 ok. Also Homes for rent available. Call Nicole 312-446-1753; W-side locations Tom 630-776-5556; CHATHAM 7105 S. CHAMPLAIN, 1BR. $6 40.

2BR. $775. Sec 8 OK. Heat & appl.

Call Office: 773-966-5275 or

312-480-0436

CLEAN ROOM W/FRIDGE & micro, Near Oak Park, Food -4Less, Walmart, Walgreens, Buses & Metra, Laundry. $115/wk & up.

773-637-5957

1 BR $800-$899 RIVERDALE, IVANHOE SECT, 1 & 2BR, newly remod, $800$850/mo. Lndry, priv pkng, sec cam. Wtr/heat incl. No crdt chk, Sec 8 ok 708.308.8137 OAK LAWN, SPACIOUS 1BR, appliances, heat incl, close to Christ Hospital, $840/mo. 708-422-8801

1 BR $900-$1099 ONE BEDROOM APARTMENT near Loyola Park. 1337 1/2 W. Estes.

Hardwood floors. Cats OK. $995/ month (heat included). Available 9/1.

Smaller unit available 10/1 for $950/ month. 773-761-4318.

1 BR OTHER

LAWSON HOUSE FURNISHED Single Room Occupancy Now

Leasing SRO’s from $445.00 to $58 0.00 *Inquire about special programs* Twin Size Bed, Dresser, Microwave & Mini-Refrigerator Incl.

Heat, Hot Water, & Electricity! Hot meal ea. month & On-Site Laundry Community Room & Computer Lab Free Wi-Fi 30 W. Chicago Avenue Chicago, IL 60654. 312-506-2674 Professionally Managed by Holsten Management Corporation IL. Real Estate Sponsor Broker License #478.

007600 The President of Holsten Management Corporation is an Illinois Licensed Real Estate Broker # 47 1.000665

SOUTHSIDE-AUBURN GRESHAM 3BR with heat and balcony.

Newly decorated. $995 month, no sec, no appliances,no pets. 312-4207405

AUGUST 9, 2018 | CHICAGO READER 35

FELLOWSHIP MANOR Affordable Housing For The Elderly. Applications are being accepted at Fel-

134TH/BRANDON. 1BR Apt, all appls & utils incl, A/C, fresh paint, roomy, pvt entr & lowship Manor, 5041 South Princeton much more. $700/mo.

708Avenue, Chicago IL, 60609 for one 837-6580 bedroom apartments.

Applicants must be at least 62 years of age, and must meet screening criteria. Contact the onsite management office by phone at (773) 9245980, or Via postal mail. This institution is an equal opportunity provider.

APTS. FOR RENT PARK MGMT & INV. LTD. SUMMER IS HERE!!!

MONST UNITS INCLUDE..

HEAT & HOT WATER STUDIOS FROM $495.00 1BDR FROM $545.00 2BDR FROM $745.00 3 BDR/2 FULL BATH FROM $1200 **1-(773)-476-6000** APTS. FOR RENT PARK MGMT & INV. LTD. SUMMER IS HERE!!!

HEAT, HW & CG PLENTY OF PARKING 1BDR FROM $785.00 2BDR FROM $1025.00 3 BDR/2 FULL BATH FROM $1200 **1-(773)-476-6000*** ROUND LAKE BEACH, IL Cedar Villas is accepting applications for subsidized 1BR apts. for seniors 62 years or older and the disabled.

Rent is based on 30% of annual income. For details, call us at 847-546-1899 ∫

CHICAGO - BEVERLY, 1 & 2BR Apts. Carpet, Hdwd Flrs, A/C, laundry, near transportation, $795-$1040/mo. Call 773-2334939 SUBURBS, RENT TO OW N! Buy with No closing costs and get help with your credit. Call 708868-2422 or visit www.nhba.com CHICAGO, RENT TO OWN! Buy with no closing costs and get help with your credit. Call 708868-2422 or visit www.nhba.com

NO SECURITY DEPOSIT NO MOVE IN FEE 1, 2, 3 BEDROOM APTS (773) 874-1122 ACACIA SRO HOTEL Men Preferred! Rooms for Rent. Weekly & Monthly Rates. 312-421-4597

2 BR UNDER $900 80TH/ASHLAND, Beaut. newly remod, 2BR w /ofc. Nr schls & trnsp. $800 /mo, ten pays all utils. $500 move in fee. Available now. 773-7754458 CHICAGO 7600 S E s s e x , SUMMER SPECIAL - 2BR $599, 3BR $699, 4BR $799 w/apprvd credit, no sec dep. Sec 8 Ok! South Side Office: 773-287-9999, West Side Office: 773-287-4500 CHICAGO - 3351 W. 21ST ST., 2BR, heat incl, no appliances. $800/mo, 1 mo. sec + 1 mo rent.

Call Mrs. Jackson from 9-8 at 773-521-8836

6748 CRANDON & 7727 COLFAX MOST BEAUTIFUL APARTMENTS! 1 & 2BR, $625 & UP. OFF STREET PARKING. 773-947-8572 / 312-613-4424

BRONZEVILLE - Remod 1 & 2BR. SEC 8 OK! 4950 S. Prairie. $690 and up. Heat, cooking gas & appls incl, lndry on site. Z. 773.406.

4841

92ND & ADA, 1 & 2BR, lg & spacious w/ DR, hdwd flrs, sunporch, fireplace, heat & appls incl. Sect 8 ok $850-$975/mo + sec. 773-4156914

CHICAGO 94-3739 S. Bishop.

2BR, 5 Rms, 1st & 2nd flr, appls, parking, storage, near shops/ trans. $950 + sec. No pets. 708335-0786

RIVERDALE, New decor, 1st flr, 1BR, new crpt, heated, lndry, prkng, no pets, nr Metra. Sect 8 ok. $735/mo. 630-480-0638 NEWLY DECORATED 2 bedroom, heat included. Rent $875 + 1 month security. 9117 S Laflin.

Call after 6pm 708-957-7861

RIVERDALE APT FOR RENT, 2 bedroom, heat included, $875/mo + security. Section 8 ok. Please Call 773-852-9425 LAWNDALE AREA, 5 ROOMS, 2BR, 1BA, $690/MO. UTILS NOT INCL. CALL TERRY, 773-486-1838.

M-F 9-5:30PM. SAT, 9-1:30PM. 8943 S. ADA. Safe, secure 2-3BR,

July 30th to August 13th Go to: www.thepinesofedgewater.com All applications must be entered online.

Please contact the Management Office with questions at 773-728-5009

Managed by The Habitat Company

36 CHICAGO READER | AUGUST 9, 2018

1056 W. 81st St., 2BR, ceiling fans, heat not incl.

312-608-7622

2BR & 3BR apts, updated kitchens

& baths, appliances included a/c incl. in 2BR, garage incl.in 3BR, Sec 8 OK. 312-282-6555

3 BR OR MORE UNDER $1200

OVER

NEW KITCHENS & BATHS .

69th/Dante, 3BR. 77th/Lowe, 2BR. 71st/Bennett. 2BR. We have others!

Sec 8 Welc. 708-503-1366

76TH/BLACKSTONE 3BR, 1.5ba Townhouse, Completely updated, immediate possession, $55,000.

Jackson. 773-955-0900

portation. $1250/mo. Sec 8 ok or cash. Call 708-263-8214

2 BR $1500 AND

GENERAL

Wilma Johnson, Baird & Warner, 773802-0686

GRESHAM: REHABBED 24BR, heat included, close to trans-

BEAUTIFUL REMOD 1, 2 & 3BR Apts, hdwd flrs, custom cabinets, granite cntrs, avail now. $1000$1200 /mo + sec. 773-905-8487.

Section 8 Ok

SUMMER SPECIAL, SECTION 8 Ok, 3, 4 & 5 BR houses avail.

South Side: 773-287-9999, West Side: 773-287-4500.

COME SEE WHAT a poet’s charming dream home looks like.

3BR, 1 office, 3.5BA, on a beautiful block, Open House Sunday 8/5 1-4 $1,290,000. 2 027 W Bradley Place,

GLENWOOD, Updated large 2BR Condo, $990/mo. HF HS, balcony, C/A, appls, heat/ water incl. 2 pkng, laundry.

Call 708.268.3762

2 BR $1100-$1299

SOUTHSIDE, Newly remod 2BR with appls & WD hkups.

Enclosed back porch, finished basement.

Call 773-9088791

FOR SALE

2 BR $900-$1099

non-residential $1,099/MONTH LAWNDALE AREA BEAUTIFUL 3 Bed, 1 Bath

Spacious Apt, Completely Renovated, Hardwood Fls, Section 8 & Seniors welcome home.

WE WILL ACCEPT YOUR 2 BEDROOM VOUCHER FOR THIS SPACIOUS, NEWLY RENOVATED THREE BEDROOM APARTMENT. Beautiful, elegant Apartment available on either 1st, 2nd or 3rd floor of 3 flat.

NEW: Hardwood floors, ceramic bath & kitchen floors, cabinets, heating/ cooling and water heater. Intercom, enclosed back porch, tall ceilings, large windows, fenced yard. Close to public transportation. 55+ WELCOME

1500 SQFT COMMERCIAL

Space on heavy foot traffic area.

5124 Madison St. $1500/mo.

Utils neg. Parking avail in rear.

773-988-5579

DIVISION BY AUSTIN,

1200SQFT + office in rear with 2 bathrooms, Remodeled corner Store, central heating and air.

708-307-2440

ADULT SERVICES

OVER 1000SQFT, Near 67th & Cottage Grove, very clean ideally for florist or resale shop. $675/mo. Call 773-955-6699

roommates ALBANY PARK APARTMENT TO SHARE - If you are a dog walker, work in the pet industry or a college student this could be for you, however, all applications are taken.

Furnished apartment, great rent at $500 per person.

Help take care of the dogs. 3BR’s available, many perks. 773-6180004

MARKETPLACE GOODS

ESTATE SALE ALL VINTAGE: Arts & crafts materials, fabrics and notions, light fixtures, floor lamps, one-of-kind knick-knacks, solid wood furniture, needs refinishing, wooden window shutters, picture framing materials and framed art, clothes (petite 1016), decorative tins and miscellaneous items. Previews by appointment only. 773-485-7948, 6229 N Wayne, Chicago, IL August 18-19, 10am-2pm.

JACKSON

PARK

JACKSON

PARK

HIGH-

LANDS ANNUAL GARAGE SALE: Over 20 participating homes from 67th to 70th Streets of Euclid, Bennett, Constance, and Cregier Avenues in Chicago’s South Shore neighborhood. SATURDAY & SUNDAY, August 11th + 12th, 10 AM-7 PM. Furniture, Vintage Clothes, Collectibles, Electronics, Jewelry, Books, Baby items and more!

CLASSICS WANTED ANY CLASSIC CARS IN ANY CONDITION. ’20S, ’30S, ’40S, ’50S, ’60S & ’70S. HOTRODS & EXOTICS! TOP DOLLAR PAID! COLLECTOR. CALL JAMES, 630-201-8122

SERVICES

ADULT SERVICES

ELIZABETH NICHOLAS ADVISERS emotional healing.

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SAVAGE LOVE

HOT GIRL

By Dan Savage

BODY RUBS

‘Help! I WANT SEX. All the time, with all sorts of people’

$40 w/AD 24/7

Is this normal? Plus: wedding etiquette for nonhierarchal polycules

Q : I’m a 27-year-old woman

living on the east coast. I’ve been sexually active and on birth control since I was 16—almost always on the pill.

I recently switched to the NuvaRing, which I had a bad reaction to: I had no libido at all and extreme mood swings/bouts of depression I could not live with. My boyfriend and I decided it would be a good idea to go off hormonal birth control for a while, just to see what would happen. We’ve been together for almost four years, so we agreed condoms would be fine, and I would try the route of no more supplemental hormones. I stopped a couple of months ago, and it’s been a mix of good and bad. The good is that my moods are more even. Another good thing is I feel like I’m having a sexual awakening. My libido came back! But the bad thing is . . . my libido came back in a way I wasn’t expecting. My sexual appetite is insane. I want to have sex with everyone!

Men, women, friends, colleagues, acquaintances.

My boyfriend has been amazing through all of this.

He’s agreed to let us open up our relationship under specific terms. I agree with the terms we placed, but I still feel like my urges are going to get me in trouble.

I know not to have sex with friends and colleagues, but a lot of situations come up that make it hard to resist— especially when alcohol is involved. I’m very good with self-policing, and I don’t think I’ll actually act on my urges. My question is one you get a lot: Is this normal?

Can removing a cocktail of hormones from my life really change me this much? I used to want sex, but now I WANT SEX. I want a lot of it, and it’s overwhelming. I don’t

want to blame it all on the birth control, but I can’t help but feel it to be true since it was the only variable in my life that changed in the last couple of months. I want to be faithful to my boyfriend, who has been great and understanding—allowing us to open our relationship to casual encounters with strangers. (Also: No friends, no one we both know, DADT, and no intimacy with anyone—it must be purely sexual/physical.) But I’m feeling sexual connections to so many more people now, and often to people I’ve known for a while. I see this all as mostly positive, but the adjustment to the new sexual hunger has been strange and difficult to wrap my head around. —SUDDENLY HORNY AND GOING GAGA ISN’T NORMAL

A : “I’m so glad to hear this

woman sees the increase in her libido as positive,” said psychologist Meredith Chivers of Queen’s University, Ontario. “At the same time, I understand how overwhelming these urges can feel, especially when they are new.”

Luckily for you, SHAGGIN, you’re with someone who’s secure enough to let you feel the fuck out of these new feelings. Whether or not you act on them is one thing—DADT agreement or no DADT agreement—but not having to pretend you aren’t suddenly interested in fucking men, women, friends, colleagues, and acquaintances is a real gift.

As for whether WANTING SEX is normal, “It’s difficult to say,” says Chivers. “To my knowledge, researchers have not specifically examined the question of what happens to women’s sex drive after stopping HC [hormonal contraception].” So if there is

a “normal” in this realm, we don’t know what it is.

As for your boyfriend, SHAGGIN, and your desire to be faithful to him: So long as you honor the terms of your openness agreement, you are being faithful to him. But check in with him more than once before you fuck someone who isn’t him. Because when a partner agrees to open the relationship but then places a long list of restrictions on who you can fuck—a list that excludes most of the people you wanna fuck—that can be a sign your partner doesn’t actually want to open the relationship.

Q : I’m part of a nonhierarchical polycule.

In a few months, one of my girlfriends will be marrying her fiancee. I’ll be attending as a guest with my other girlfriend. What are the guidelines or expectations for purchasing a gift for your girlfriend’s wedding?

Surprisingly, the other advice columnists don’t have guidance on this one.

—WEDDING ETIQUETTE DILEMMA A : Get the couple something

nice, something you can afford, maybe something from their gift registry. Or give them a card with a check in it so they can spend the money on whatever they might need for their household or use it to cover the expense of the wedding itself. In short, WED, wedding-gift guidelines are the same for people in nonhierarchical polycules as they are for love-muggle monocules. v Send letters to mail@ savagelove.net.

Download the Savage Lovecast every Tuesday at savagelovecast.com. m @fakedansavage

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EARLY WARNINGS

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AUGUST 9, 2018 - CHICAGO READER 37

Bomba Estereo é COURTESY OF MELT BOOKING

b JD Wilkes 9/13, 9 PM, Hideout Lilianna Wosko 9/13, 8:30 PM, Constellation, 18+

UPCOMING

NEW

Alcest, Cloakroom 10/31, 8 PM, Reggie’s Rock Club, 17+ Edward David Anderson 11/10, 8:30 PM, FitzGerald’s, Berwyn, on sale Fri 8/10, 11 AM Arsis, Decrepit Birth 11/3, 2 PM, Reggie’s Rock Club, 17+ Band of Friends 11/23, 8 PM, SPACE, Evanston, on sale Fri 8/10, 10 AM b Algebra Blessett 10/25, 8 PM, City Winery, on sale Thu 8/9, noon b Bomba Estereo 12/15, 8:30 PM, Thalia Hall, on sale Fri 8/10, 10 AM, 17+ Bunbury 3/20, 8 PM, House of Blues, on sale Fri 8/10, 10 AM, 17+ John Butler Trio 11/29, 7:30 PM, Chicago Theatre, on sale Fri 8/10, 10 AM Vinnie Caruana & Brandon Reilly, Spirit Houses 11/8, 6 PM, Cobra Lounge, on sale Fri 8/10, 10 AM, 17+ Rosanne Cash, John Leventhal 11/9, 8 PM, Maurer Hall, Old Town School of Folk Music, on sale Fri 8/10, 8 AM b Chromeo, Steven A. Clark 9/11, 8 PM, Concord Music Hall, 17+ Circa Survive, La Dispute 11/3, 7:30 PM, the Vic, on sale Fri 8/10, 10 AM b Stanley Clarke Band 10/16, 7 and 9:30 PM, SPACE, Evanston, on sale Fri 8/10, 10 AM b Devildriver 11/11, 6:30 PM, Bottom Lounge, 17+ Dodos, Palehound 11/11, 8 PM, Lincoln Hall, on sale Fri 8/10, 10 AM, 18+ DPR Live 10/2, 7 PM, Concord Music Hall b Dream Wife 10/1, 8 PM, Schubas, on sale Fri 8/10, 10 AM, 18+

Elley Duhe 12/2, 7 PM, Schubas, on sale Fri 8/10, 10 AM b Eyehategod, Obsessed 9/23, 8 PM, Cobra Lounge, 17+ Fruition 9/28, 9 PM, Martyrs’ Eric Gales 10/13, 9 PM, FitzGerald’s, Berwyn, on sale Fri 8/10, 11 AM Ron Gallo 11/4, 8 PM, Lincoln Hall, on sale Fri 8/10, noon, 18+ Laura Jane Grace & the Devouring Mothers 11/18, 6:30 PM, Cobra Lounge b Milo Greene 10/13, 9 PM, Lincoln Hall, on sale Fri 8/10, 10 AM, 18+ Joe Henry 11/15, 8 PM, City Winery, on sale Thu 8/9, noon b Horse Feathers 10/24, 8 PM, SPACE, Evanston, on sale Fri 8/10, 10 AM Hotelier 9/5, 7:15 PM, Schubas b Booker T. Jones 11/11, 6 and 8:30 PM, SPACE, Evanston, on sale Fri 8/10, 10 AM b Henry Kapono 10/18, 7 PM, Szold Hall, Old Town School of Folk Music b Emily Kinney 10/18, 8 PM, SPACE, Evanston, on sale Fri 8/10, 10 AM b Louis the Child 11/23, 9 PM, Aragon Ballroom, on sale Fri 8/10, 10 AM, 17+ Malaa 11/8-9, 8 PM, Concord Music Hall, on sale Fri 8/10, 10 AM, 18+ Medasin 10/13, 9 PM, Bottom Lounge, on sale Fri 8/10, 10 AM, 17+ MK, Camelphat 11/2, 8 PM, Concord Music Hall, on sale Thu 8/9, 10 AM, 18+ Municipal Waste, High on Fire 11/15, 7 PM, Metro, 18+ Native Sun 9/4, 8:30 PM, Empty Bottle Nnamdi Ogbonnaya & Sen Morimoto 11/9, 9 PM, Empty Bottle, on sale Fri 8/10, 10 AM

38 CHICAGO READER - AUGUST 9, 2018

The Orb 11/10, 9 PM, Metro, on sale Fri 8/10, 10 AM, 18+ Palaye Royale 11/18, 6 PM, Metro b Peter, Bjorn & John 12/5, 8 PM, Lincoln Hall, on sale Fri 8/10, 10 AM Pvmnts 11/10, 6 PM, Beat Kitchen, on sale Fri 8/10, 10 AM b R.Lum.R 11/5, 7 PM, Lincoln Hall, on sale Fri 8/10, 10 AM b Caroline Rose, And the Kids 11/8, 8 PM, Lincoln Hall, on sale Fri 8/10, 10 AM, 18+ Tom Rush 11/18, 7 PM, SPACE, Evanston, on sale Fri 8/10, 10 AM b Scene Aesthetic 11/19, 8 PM, Beat Kitchen, 17+ So So Def 25th Cultural Curren$y Tour with Jemaine Dupri, Xscape, Anthony Hamilton, Jagged Edge, and more 10/30, 7:30 PM, United Center, on sale Fri 8/10, 10 AM Stars 12/5, 9 PM, Metro, on sale Fri 8/10, 10 AM, 18+ Superorganism 9/5, 8:30 PM, Thalia Hall, on sale Fri 8/10, 10 AM, 17+ Tank & the Bangas, Big Freedia 10/26, 8 PM, Concord Music Hall, on sale Fri 8/10, 10 AM, 18+ This Will Destroy You 11/2, 9 PM, Metro, 18+ Titus Andronicus, Ted Leo 10/19, 8 PM, Bottom Lounge, on sale Fri 8/10, 10 AM, 17+ Trapped Under Ice 10/7, 7 PM, Cobra Lounge b Vaccines, Jesse Jo Stark 10/11, 8 PM, Lincoln Hall, on sale Fri 8/10, 10 AM, 18+ Loudon Wainwright III 11/3, 8 PM, SPACE, Evanston, on sale Fri 8/10, 10 AM b Bob Weir & the Wolf Bros 10/31, 7 PM, Chicago Theatre, on sale Fri 8/10, 10 AM

Acid King 9/22, 8 PM, Reggie’s Rock Club, 17+ Lily Allen 10/31, 7:30 PM, the Vic b Authority Zero 9/27, 7 PM, Reggie’s Rock Club, 17+ Courtney Barnett, Waxahatchee 10/18, 8 PM, Riviera Theatre, 18+ Beach House 8/18, 7:30 PM, Chicago Theatre Beak 10/15, 8 PM, Lincoln Hall, 18+ Black Tiger Sex Machine 10/13, 8 PM, Concord Music Hall, 17+ Black Tusk, Whores. 8/16, 7 PM, Reggie’s Music Joint Cafe Tacvba 9/29-30, 8 PM, Concord Music Hall, 17+ Car Seat Headrest, Naked Giants 9/7, 7:30 PM, Riviera Theatre b Phil Collins 10/22, 8 PM, United Center Dance With the Dead 10/5, 9 PM, Subterranean, 17+ Dark Star Orchestra 9/29, 8 PM, the Vic, 18+ Deep Purple, Judas Priest 8/22, 7 PM, Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre, Tinley Park Destroyer 10/17, 8 PM, SPACE, Evanston b Dying Fetus, Incantation 9/23, 7 PM, Bottom Lounge, 17+ El Ten Eleven 11/10, 9 PM, Chop Shop, 18+ Roky Erickson 11/9, 9 PM, Lincoln Hall FIDLAR, Dilly Dally 9/8, 7:30 PM, the Vic b Fleetwood Mac 10/6, 8 PM, United Center Foxing 9/30, 7 PM, Lincoln Hall b Frigs 9/22, 8:30 PM, Empty Bottle Godflesh, Harm’s Way 8/24, 8 PM, Metro, 18+ Grouper 9/23, 7 PM, Bohemian National Cemetery b Growlers 10/4, 8 PM, Riviera Theatre, 18+ Honey Island Swamp Band 9/27, 8:30 PM, FitzGerald’s, Berwyn How to Dress Well 11/20, 8 PM, Sleeping Village Idles 9/14, 10 PM, Lincoln Hall, 18+ Incognito 10/14, 5 PM, City Winery b Iron Chic, Spanish Love Songs 9/25, 8 PM, Subterranean, 17+ Jawbreaker 11/4, 6:30 PM, Aragon Ballroom b Joy Formidable, Tancred 11/3, 8 PM, Lincoln Hall, 18+ Noah Kahan 10/19, 8 PM, Schubas b Miranda Lambert 8/25, 7 PM, Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre, Tinley Park v

ALL AGES

WOLF BY KEITH HERZIK

EARLY WARNINGS

CHICAGO SHOWS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT IN THE WEEKS TO COME

F

Never miss a show again.

Sign up for the newsletter at chicagoreader. com/early

Lone Bellow 12/8-9, 7 PM, Maurer Hall, Old Town School of Folk Music b The Men 8/25, 8:30 PM, Empty Bottle Monster Magnet, Electric Citizen 10/2, 7:30 PM, Bottom Lounge, 17+ Needtobreathe, Johnnyswim 9/8, 7 PM, Huntington Bank Pavilion Michael Nesmith & the First National Band 9/13, 8 PM, Maurer Hall, Old Town School of Folk Music b Nicki Minaj, Future 9/28, 7:30 PM, United Center Nothing, Culture Abuse 9/12, 9 PM, Lincoln Hall, 18+ Oh Sees, Timmy’s Organism 10/12, 8:30 PM, Thalia Hall, 17+ Parcels 3/1, 9 PM, Lincoln Hall, 18+ Parquet Courts 12/3, 7:30 PM, the Vic, 18+ A Place to Bury Strangers 10/19, 9 PM, Empty Bottle Red Fang, Big Business 9/27, 8:30 PM, Empty Bottle Rozwell Kid 11/15, 8 PM, Beat Kitchen, 17+ Ty Segall, William Tyler 11/2, 7:30 PM, Thalia Hall b Shiner 9/23, 8:30 PM, Empty Bottle Slaughter Beach, Dog 9/22, 8 PM, Beat Kitchen, 17+ Sleigh Bells 8/17, 9 PM, Metro, 18+ Swearin’, Empath 10/18, 9 PM, Lincoln Hall, 18+ Venom Inc. 8/31, 7 PM, Reggie’s Rock Club, 17+ Kurt Vile & the Violators 12/22, 7:30 PM, Riviera Theatre, 18+

SOLD OUT Bonnie “Prince” Billy 10/7, 7:30 PM, Fullerton Hall, Art Institute of Chicago Cavetown 12/8, 6:30 PM, Subterranean Chelsea Cutler 10/2, 8 PM, Chop Shop, 17+ Laura Jane Grace & the Devouring Mothers 11/8, 8 PM, Hideout Hozier 9/21, 8 PM, Riviera Theatre b Jim James, Alynda Segarra 11/9, 7:30 PM, the Vic b Claudio Simonetti’s Goblin 11/18, 8 PM, Reggie’s Rock Club, 17+ Tenacious D 11/13-14, 7:30 PM, Riviera Theatre, 18+ The The 9/22, 8 PM, Riviera Theatre, 18+

GOSSIP WOLF A furry ear to the ground of the local music scene EMERALDS COFOUNDER Steve Hauschildt has been crafting intricate, technoinflected ambient music since long before that experimental Cleveland trio split up in early 2013. Last week Hauschildt, who now lives in Chicago, dropped Dissolvi (Ghostly International), an album of gentle, crystalline synths and steady techno pulses. On Saturday, August 11, he celebrates with a release show at Sleeping Village; also on the bill are Michael Vallera and Julianna Barwick, who appears on standout Dissolvi track “Saccade.” This wolf is hoping for a live duet!

Not that Gossip Wolf is down on cover bands or cheese curds, but Chicago’s only classical-music street fest has a different flavor. Hosted by Access Contemporary Music, the third annual Thirsty Ears Festival runs Saturday and Sunday, August 11 and 12, on Wilson between Hermitage and Ravenswood. Its dozen-plus acts include the Chicago Composers Orchestra, Gaudete Brass, and Eighth Blackbird cellist Nick Photinos—plus an interactive performance of Terry Riley’s minimalist classic In C. The fest will also screen short silent films accompanied by live scores. As ACM founder Seth Boustead says, “My two favorite ACM productions are Sound of Silent Film and Thirsty Ears. It just seemed natural to combine them and play live movie scores on the street with a ginormous screen!” A $10 suggested donation benefits the ACM School of Music, which introduces students to modern performance and composition.

Meanwhile in Pilsen, the third annual My House Music Festival runs Saturday and Sunday, August 11 and 12, at Cermak and Morgan. Tim “Spinnin’” Schommer, who became an on-air personality for B96’s Street Flava show in the 90s, headlines Saturday; Kenny “Jammin” Jason, a founding member of the Hot Mix 5, headlines Sunday. The bill also includes Julian “Jumpin” Perez, DJ Heather, and Gene Hunt. The fest is free and starts at noon.

—J.R. NELSON AND LEOR GALIL Got a tip? Tweet @Gossip_Wolf or e-mail gossipwolf@chicagoreader.com.

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AUGUST 9, 2018 - CHICAGO READER 39

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