Reader Letters m
Re: “Will DOGE set its sights on Chicago’s public art?” written by Jonah Nink and published in our May 1 issue (volume 54, number 30)
Republicans hate joy. —Bill Kelly, via Facebook
Art that does not specifically reflect the great leader and his glory must be destroyed. —Beaumont Sebos, via Facebook
Re: “Facing the deep end,” written by Sheri Flanders and published in our May 1 issue
Great article. I am a Black woman too, and I tried to learn how to swim in my forties. Nearly every lesson ended with me in tears. My terror was overwhelming. I hope to learn someday. —Bonnie Richardson, via Facebook
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The Chicago Reader accepts comments and letters to the editor of less than 400 words for publication consideration.
m letters@chicagoreader.com
EDITOR’S NOTE
My friend Kristen Cox came into town to visit a bit ago, and we had to eat lunch to celebrate our nearly thirty years of friendship. We met as twentysomething wage workers at Facets (way back when the rental shop was in the basement) and bonded quickly over documentaries, leftist politics, and avant-garde performance art. We arranged to meet at Lula Cafe, where we enjoyed many a meal together when Cox was still based in town (Lula is only slightly younger than our friendship).
When I arrived, I found them already seated with a spirit-free fizzy cocktail and wearing a black shirt that read “Depressed?” in red lettering. Their shirt was an original from the Iraq war–era a nity group Feel Tank Chicago, and the back answered the question on the front (“It might be political!”). I praised Cox for their ability to keep such a treasure intact all these years, and we talked excitedly about the prescience of our old friends. Well, as excitedly as we could muster, given that our political depression has rotated back into session. In fact, just days ago, Feel Tank cofounder Rebecca Zorach, now a professor at Northwestern, published an op-ed in the Chicago Tribune decrying the current administration’s interpretation of art preservation.
Many things threaten to crush our spirits these days, but you don’t have to look very hard to find activists and allies who can attest to being “here before,” and some of their rallying cries can still o er us hope and solidarity.
Feel Tank created a PowerPoint presentation in 2008 that is still viewable on the Illinois Humanities Council’s YouTube channel (youtube.com/@ILHumanitiesCouncil). In the video, the group presents their definition of political depression and sorts out some reasons that, “Hey, you might still want to get out of bed and join the rest of us in the streets.”
And if you don’t find that video inspiring,
even Governor J.B. Pritzker says it’s time to fight. In a recent speech at a Democratic Party fundraising dinner in New Hampshire, he said, “It’s time to fight everywhere and all at once.” Depressed? Time to get up. v
—Salem Collo-Julin, editor in chief m scollojulin@chicagoreader.com
Passages
It’s with regret that we inform you that former Reader editor and columnist Michael Miner passed away on May 1, 2025. He was truly a journeyman of Chicago journalism and has the distinction of having some influence on every version of the Reader thus far. From his first contribution as a freelancer (an article titled “The Insanity Stops,” documenting Chicagoans at night, was published on pages four and five of our very first issue on October 1, 1971) to his last (revisiting writer John Conroy’s “House of Screams” series on police torture for our 50th anniversary issue on October 28, 2021), Miner’s curiosity and sage observations
on writing and life helped define the soul of this publication.
We’ll publish a longer tribute including thoughts from past Reader sta ers in a future issue. Miner’s family has planned a memorial gathering on May 19 at the Newberry Library, and they request that donations be made in Miner’s name to the library in lieu of flowers. v
CORRECTIONS
The Reader has updated the online version of the article “Rolling toward community,” written by Savannah Ray Hugueley with a photo essay by Kirk Williamson, which was first published as our cover story for the May 1 issue. The story was corrected to clarify that Derrick Faulkner, now the director of program services and special events for the Chicago Park District, was an area manager for the district in October 2022. Additionally, the district was not able to provide skate rentals for the Halloween event that year, but o ered to host future collaborations. v
Signs from the third Parade of the Politically Depressed, downtown in July 2006
FOOD & DRINK
Chef Hailee Catalano celebrates her debut cookbook with a midwest homecoming
An interview with the author of By Heart: Recipes to Hold Near and Dear
By TARYN MCFADDEN
Like many, I got to know Hailee Catalano through TikTok. The 31-year-old chef—always sporting a cute T-shirt and a tight bun with a middle part—gained a following for her recipe tutorials and warm persona, in addition to collaborative cooking videos with her partner, Charles “Chuck” Cruz. The pair is known on the app for constructing giant mouthwatering beach sandwiches, running a weekly Friday night dinner series, and just being e ortlessly chill.
Catalano and Cruz live in New Jersey, but the former was born and raised in western suburban Elmhurst and still has familial roots in Chicagoland. She moved east to attend culinary school at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York, then worked for a stint in Jersey City until the couple moved to Chicago in 2015. Catalano worked in restaurants for the next five years, most notably at Logan Square’s Cellar Door Provisions, before moving back to Jersey. During the pandemic lockdown, she worked odd jobs and eventually landed a nine-to-five at a kitchen appliance testing company, which provided stability but no real creative outlet. That led Catalano to the world of content creation. Today, she has 1.9 million followers on TikTok and sizable followings on her Instagram and joint accounts with Cruz.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Taryn McFadden: Describe By Heart for me. What inspired the book?
In mid-April, Catalano released her first cookbook, By Heart: Recipes to Hold Near and Dear . With dishes like Chicago-style fennel giardiniera, a brie and butter sandwich, and cannoli crunch ice cream cake, the cookbook quickly made the New York Times Best Sellers list. Catalano is currently on a U.S. book tour, which included a collaborative dinner and a book signing event in Chicago in late April.
I interviewed Catalano about By Heart, its connections to the midwest, and perhaps most importantly, her Portillo’s order.
Hailee Catalano: It’s a collection of seasonal and cozy recipes that kind of tell the story of my life in food thus far. There are a lot of recipes inspired by my Italian American family—that’s where I really fell in love with food, through cooking with them, my grandma and my mom. And then there’s a bunch of recipes that are inspired by my time in restaurants as well, and kind of an overlap of all of that together: home-cooked recipes that have maybe a couple extra twists, things that I learned in my time working in restaurants to make them a little bit more fun, fresh, or something maybe you haven’t tried before. And hopefully it helps make everyone a better home cook.
How long have you been working on the cookbook? What was the process like, especially while managing the daily grind of being a content creator?
I started working on it in the summer of 2022. And when I first started—because it’s the biggest project I’ve ever worked on, really—I was like, “How am I gonna keep up with the regular social media and all that?” But actually, I feel like I was able to find an OK balance. I didn’t want to post, obviously, any recipes that [I was] working on for the cookbook, because you want them to be fresh. That’s actually something that was hard, because I’m used to coming up with an idea that I want based on the season, and the next week I’m posting the recipe and posting the video. It’s very quick. But for the cookbook, I came up with the whole table of contents probably in 2022, which is so long ago—so that was a hard thing, to keep
them all inside. But now that it’s out, it’s kind of new again. It’s been so long that I’ve been working on them. And it’s really fun to see, now that it’s out, people are making [the recipes], and I’m like, “Oh my god, it’s so crazy that people are actually making them and enjoying them and eating them.” This is a pretty cool full circle thing.
You already have a ton of really excellent and approachable video content. But in what ways is it di erent for people to learn about you and your cooking through a cookbook versus watching your TikToks?
There’s a lot of stu , especially in the introduction of my book, that talks more about how I got into cooking, and my life working in restaurants and kind of the burnout that I went through, and some of my mental health struggles in there, as well, that I would usually not—that I don’t—put in my videos. I mean, maybe one day I will, but not up until this point. Because . . . it’s scary to put that out on the Internet just for anyone to see. And I did want to tell people about it, because I think it’s a very important part of my story. But I was like, I really would put that in my cookbook more so because I know those are people that like me, hopefully, that are buying it; [I’m] not just putting it on the Internet where it could come up for anybody, and they could be judgmental of it or whatnot.
What role does Chicago and the city’s food scene play in your life and cooking? Can you talk about some recipes in the book that have Chicagoland roots?
A lot of stu ! Even just rural midwestern vibes. There’s a bunch of dips—I love dips so much, and I feel like that’s from growing up going to any sort of potluck that’s in the midwest, just
Hailee Catalano and the cover of her cookbook EMILY HAWKES; MAXINE MCCRANN
Mayor Johnson goes to Springfield
Mayor Brandon Johnson visited Springfield last week to demand Chicago get “its fair share.” The April 30 visit came as both the General Assembly and the City Council look to close multimillion-dollar budget holes.
According to the Chicago Tribune, Johnson outlined four priorities for meetings with lawmakers, which included a half-hour meeting with Governor J.B. Pritzker and sit-downs with house speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch and senate president Don Harmon: an expanded prepaid cell phone tax, a renewed wireless surcharge for 911 services, increased funding for the city’s homeless shelter system, and greater state investment in public schools.
A hot-button item in Springfield that’s not on Johnson’s wish list concerns the future of Chicago-area public transportation. Leaders of the Chicago Transit Authority, Metra, Pace, and their administrative body, the Regional Transportation Authority, have warned that they’ll be forced to drastically cut service in response to a $700 million fiscal cliff left by expiring federal COVID relief funding if
lawmakers fail to allocate additional funds this session. Policymakers have maintained there will be “no new revenue without reform” and pushed ahead with a plan to consolidate the four regional transit agencies under the banner of the Metropolitan Mobility Authority. Capitol News Illinois reported on April 30 that lawmakers are nearing a deal.
The Tribune reports Johnson didn’t push lawmakers on funding for a new Bears stadium. The mayor previously came out in support of a new, domed stadium for the Chicago football team and, during his last Springfield visit in May 2024, lobbied for taxpayer dollars to finance its construction. —SHAWN MULCAHY
Solidarity forever
On May 1, thousands of Chicagoans, armed with union banners and picket signs, gathered at Union Park to commemorate International Workers’ Day. The annual event on the near west side took on new significance this year under a fascist administration that is openly hostile to both workers and immigrants.
The overwhelming message from the more than two dozen speakers to address the crowd—including U.S. representative Jesús “Chuy” García , Mayor Johnson, Chicago Teachers Union president Stacy Davis Gates, and Northwestern University law professor Sheila Bedi —was that workers’ rights and immigrants’ rights are inextricably linked. Whether you’re a low-wage service worker on Chicago’s south side, a family fleeing violence in Venezuela, or a journalist documenting the genocide in Gaza, Donald Trump’s attacks on any of us are an attack on all of us.
After two and a half hours of speeches in Union Park, the crowd of more than 10,000 marched three miles east to Grant Park, where organizers planned to hear from yet more speakers. At one point, a group of marchers paused near the site of the Haymarket massacre, where, 139 years earlier, Chicago police attacked protesters demanding an eight-hour work day in a clash that eventually spurred International Workers’ Day. As an organizer explained the event’s significance, I paused to take a picture of one person’s sign. It read, “We are the many. They are the few.” —SHAWN
MULCAHY
On the trail
U.S. representative Jan Schakowsky plans to retire from Congress, the 80-year-old Democrat announced at her 24th annual Ultimate Women’s Power Lunch on Monday. In March, 26-year-old progressive social media influencer Kat Abughazaleh launched her campaign for the seat Schakowsky has held since 1999, and state senator Laura Fine threw her hat in the ring on Tuesday. In an interview with Jewish Insider, Fine “touted her pro-Israel platform and described herself as a staunch defender of the Jewish state.” Schakowsky joins her colleague Senator Dick Durbin in deciding not to run again in 2026. Lining up to replace Durbin are Lieutenant Governor Juliana Stratton and U.S. representative Robin Kelly, who launched her Senate campaign on Tuesday.
On Sunday, northwest-side Democratic Party leaders selected former City Council sta er Jessica Vasquez to replace outgoing Cook County commissioner Anthony Quezada on the county board. Quezada left in April to fill former alder Carlos Ramirez-Rosa ’s spot on the City Council after Mayor Johnson selected Ramirez-Rosa to lead the Chicago Park District in February. Vasquez, who was previously Ramirez-Rosa’s chief of staff, will serve out the remaining 18 months of Quezada’s term and said in a press release that she plans to run for reelection in March 2026.
Alder Brendan Reilly is flirting with a challenge to Cook County board president Toni Preckwinkle next year. The conservative City Council member told the Tribune on April 30 that he had been “approached to take on Preckwinkle.” The same day, Reilly told the council’s public safety committee that Chicago police need expanded power to declare onthe-spot curfews to crack down on anti-Trump protests he anticipated would erupt this summer. In September, following Israel’s deadly attack in Lebanon using bombs disguised as pagers, Reilly tweeted a since-deleted photo of a pager displaying the words “mazel tov” and referred to Lebanese political party Hezbollah as “scum.” —SHAWN MULCAHY v
Make It Make Sense is a weekly column about what’s happening and why it matters.
m smulcahy@chicagoreader.com
Thousands march through the Loop for International Workers’ Day on May 1, 2025 PAUL GOYETTE/FLICKR VIA CC BY 2.0
THEATER
Defiant Silk Defiant Silk brings Asian American joy to the Newport
RD EFIANT SILK: A PAN -ASIAN CABARET FESTIVAL
5/9- 5/ 18 : Fri 5/9 and 5/ 16 7 PM, Sat 5/ 17 7 PM, Sun 5/ 18 6 PM (see website for complete schedule);
MBy CHARLI RENKEN
ay is Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month, and with it comes an exciting fringe performing arts festival to celebrate. Nominated in the Reader ’s Best of Chicago readers poll as best performing arts festival two years in a row, Defiant Silk celebrates Asian and Pacific Islander diasporas through a full month of burlesque, belly dancing, circus arts, drag, music, cultural dance, and more. The festival runs at the Newport Theater May 9–18 with four distinct shows.
Defiant Silk producer Dawn Xiana Moon is all about fusion. In fact, she calls herself a “fusion creature,” something she says she owes in part to her birthplace. She was born in Singapore, which has a lot of cultural influences from China, Great Britain, Thailand, Malaysia, Japan, and other countries. When she was young, her family moved to the midwest. As a performer, she focuses on “bridging the folk traditions of the East and West,” as the tagline on her website reads.
Moon isn’t just a cultural alchemist. She’s also multitalented, combining all sorts of performing arts, from music to fusion belly dancing to fire spinning. She’s the founder and director of Raks Geek and Raks Inferno, both
Newport Theater, 956 W. Newport, defiantsilk.com, $25 -$ 39
The celebration of AAPI Heritage Month features burlesque, circus arts, drag, music, and more.
of which perform a variety of acts at the Newport regularly. Her music blends traditional Chinese sounds with folk, pop, and jazz. (My favorite fact about Moon is that she does a fusion belly dance routine as a Wookie.)
With fusion at the core of Moon’s own work, it’s no surprise that Defiant Silk is all about bringing different cultures, performance styles, and genres together. The AAPI diaspora includes a wide and diverse breadth of cultures, which Moon strives to encompass as much as possible.
“From the beginning, I wanted to make sure the festival was just like the diversity of Asian Americans. I didn’t want to just have a bunch of East Asians on stage,” Moon explains.
“I wanted to make sure we included South Asians and people who are mixed race, too. We have a number of Black performers in the festival because they’re also Asian. We also have a bunch of people who are immigrants, including myself.”
The festival was created three years ago by Moon, burlesque artist and producer Bazuka Joe, and burlesque artist Crocodile Lightning. Moon says it was a simple process, only taking a month to put together, primarily because it includes takeovers of two existing shows: Raks
Inferno and the Newport’s flagship, Peek-Easy. Three years later, the festival has grown to four shows spanning the month of May. To Moon, it feels more cohesive than in past years. This year, a new show, Fire + Dragons, joins the bill alongside existing but new-tothe-festival show Diverse Desires.
Fire + Dragons (May 16) brings together a cast of nationally touring performers mixing burlesque, traditional Chinese music, hip-hop, hoops, and more. The tour features collaborations between live musicians and dancers, something you don’t see all that often in the burlesque scene. Moon herself is in a number that combines her live singing accompanied by ruan player Tzu Tsen Wu.
“I’m super excited about this number because this is what this festival was made for: to build connections and collaborate,” Moon says.
Diverse Desires (May 18) will have its third performance as part of Defiant Silk with a stacked cast of entertainers. Some highlights include reigning 2024 Mx. Exotic World burlesque royalty Honey Bee Rose, nationally traveling burlesque performer Bebe Demure, award-winning pole artist and contortionist Caity, and more. The BIPOC cabaret is an inclu-
sive stage meant to promote cultural healing through performing arts. Its first performance celebrated Hispanic Heritage Month last year, and its second featured a primarily Black cast for Black History Month. This time around, they’re showcasing an all-Asian cast that promises to be a real treat.
Returning to Defiant Silk is Raks Inferno (May 9), which promises an intimate circus speakeasy experience and an AAPI takeover of the Newport’s burlesque-focused variety show Peek-Easy (May 17), showcasing both new and seasoned artists.
At the very center of the festival is joy. Moon stresses the importance of creating a festival that can be an escape and healing experience for performers and audiences alike.
“We’re not going to make it through this, we’re not going to be able to fight for things that are good, if we get burned out and exhausted. I think places like this, where we can be joyful, where we can get together in a community and remember that we have each other, that we’re in a space where people understand what we’re going through, are so, so important,” Moon says. v
m crenken@chicagoreader.com
Le to
right: Dawn Xiana Moon; Lee Na-Moo; Miss B LaRose; Switch the Boi Wonder; Tzu Tsen Wu; Joona Bae
OPENING
RMale bonding and its discontents
A painting threatens a trio of friends in Remy Bumppo’s Art.
You can’t open an op-ed section lately, it seems, without seeing some serious chin-scratching about “what’s the matter with men?” They’re lonely, they’re angry, they’re resentful. (Worst of all, they’re falling behind women—truly the worst humiliation, I guess.)
In her 1994 play, Art, Yasmina Reza identified at least one source of the problem: male friendships rooted in competition and alpha-dog gamesmanship rather than actual vulnerability.
Now in a sturdy revival with Remy Bumppo staged by artistic director Marti Lyons, Reza’s play (translated from the original French by Christopher Hampton) takes place far away from the American white male working-class milieu beloved of the pundit class, set instead among the bourgeoisie in Paris. Serge (Chad Bay), a dermatologist, has purchased a contemporary painting for 200,000 francs, which outrages his contrarian friend, Marc (Justin Albinder), who in turn tries to enlist Yvan (Eduardo Curley), the hapless soon-tobe-married middle man in this male-bonding triangle, as his second in this cultural duel.
The “piece of white shit,” as Marc describes it (Serge insists that it isn’t an all-white canvas and there are actually gradations of gray and other colors if you look closely) has some lines and swirls in it. But for a guy of rock-ribbed classical values like Marc (his own home features a Flemish-style landscape knockoff, whereas Yvan’s has what the other two call “hotel art” in the form of a floral still life), Serge’s purchase of the painting isn’t just a silly waste of money. It’s a rejection of Marc’s tastes, which he believes were formative for their friendship—and thus of the friendship itself. (The painting itself was conceived by scenic designer Lauren M. Nichols and props designer Amanda Herrmann in consultation with nonprofit Art Encounter—Herrmann did the actual painting.)
Art ran on Broadway in the 90s and became popular on the regional circuit for several years. It still boasts comedic he , though on repeat exposure, the jokes about the modern art world feel like standard-issue “my kid could do that” commentary. (This production does update the story to make Serge a divorced gay father rather than straight.) But that’s OK, because the three men here could be arguing about engine blocks or stamp collecting with the same fervor. The real crisis is that the bonds they thought they had rested on hierarchy, not collaboration. “I detest your independence. It’s violence. You’ve abandoned me. I’ve been betrayed,” Marc proclaims at one point. “Why do we see each other if we hate each other?” Yvan asks late in the one-act play (Curley’s neurotic take on the character is a comic highlight throughout). Figuring out how to stay friends when the things you thought you knew about other people turn out to no longer be true is the real art of human living.
—KERRY REID ART Through 6/1: Thu–Sat 7:30 PM, Sun 2:30 PM; also Sat 5/10, 5/17, and 5/31 2:30 PM and Thu 5/22 2:30 PM; open captions Sat 5/17 2:30 PM, audio description and touch tour Thu 5/22 2:30 PM; Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont, 773975-8150, remybumppo.org, $15-$55
RLove, resistance, and farewells
At the Wake of a Dead Drag Queen remains heartbreaking and relevant.
With the recent mourning of several drag performers (like local queen DUSH, and nationally beloved Jiggly Caliente and The Vivienne) and the attacks on drag in more conservative areas across the world, it’s no surprise that At the Wake of a Dead Drag Queen hits hard.
That’s not to say it’s all a cry-fest; far from it. There are certainly just as many laughs as tears. In fact, while the ending is definitely gut-wrenching, the Story Theatre production is a celebration of drag, Blackness, and queerness more than anything else.
From the beginning, you know Courtney Berringers/ Anthony Knighton (Terry Guest, who also wrote the play) is going to die. Obviously it’s in the title, but it’s also stated right off the bat by Courtney. The script doesn’t hide what Courtney dies of either (as someone who is exhausted by HIV/AIDS being used for shock value, I appreciated). The tearjerker twist of At the Wake of a Dead Drag Queen isn’t “Oh my God, she was dying of AIDS the whole time!” but rather, it’s knowing she will die, not liking her very much at first, falling in love with her complexity and potential, then watching that light get snuffed out young by an illness historically rife with inequity. At a time when federal funding for HIV and AIDS research and resources are being cut, it’s clear that while the play takes place in 2004 (and was first produced by Story Theatre in 2019), it’s just as relevant today.
The format of the one-act show (directed by Mikael Burke) feels part traditional two-hander theater and part drag show. Like any good drag show, Guest as Courtney does a fair amount of crowd work. During the performance I attended, Guest asked the audience if any straight men were watching. The room was absolutely silent for a few seconds, followed by raucous applause and laughter from the audience of queer people and women. “That’s the kind of room I prefer to be in,” Guest joked.
While that format is a fun nod to the art form of Guest’s late uncle (whose story the play is loosely based on), it does sometimes get lost in the plot. Once or twice, Courtney would turn to the audience to interact with us, and I’d get a little jolted, having forgotten that was part of the conceit.
The interstitial drag performances also sometimes felt a little inauthentic. I don’t know whether Guest or Paul Michael Thomson (Courtney’s friend and love interest Vickie Versailles/Hunter Grimes) do drag outside of the traditional theater world (it’s not in their biographies), but as a drag king myself, I wasn’t always sold on those moments. It felt like actors doing drag rather than drag queens performing. That’s not to say the drag numbers were bad—far from it—just that they didn’t leave me as gagged as I would have hoped.
That’s also not to say that Guest and Thomson don’t “get” drag. The show honestly depicts what it’s like to be backstage at a drag show and how it feels to grow in your cra over time and hope for bigger stages. In Courtney and Vickie, I saw my drag family and friends. I was fully invested in Anthony and Hunter’s love story and moved by the complexity of the characters. I knew it wouldn’t work out, but I was rooting for them anyway, which made the heartbreak all the more effective. While the drag itself doesn’t always feel quite right, Guest understands the emotional assignment.
The set and lighting design by Alyssa Mohn and Brenden Marble, respectively, oozes with glamorous energy without feeling over the top. The attention to
detail makes the stage stunning and adds a sense of drag magic, both spirited and sinister, to the production. In the Wake of a Dead Drag Queen is a funny yet devastating story that needs to be told now more than ever. —CHARLI RENKEN AT THE WAKE OF A DEAD DRAG QUEEN Through 5/25: Mon and Thu–Sat 7:30 PM, Sun 3 PM; no show Thu 5/22; Raven Theatre, 6157 N. Clark, 773-338-2177, thestorytheatre.org, $15-$45
Heads in the sand
A small town sacrifices for “progress” in The Ostrich
Chicago has the Bean (aka Cloud Gate). Ostrich, Indiana, has the ostrich—a flightless bird that is about to take flight, or so they believe. Every town needs something to attract visitors. But what if the town gave up its main tourist draw (an ostrich-shaped tree) to make way for progress? That is the central question posed in The Ostrich, a new work written by Wendy A. Schmidt, directed by Eileen Tull, and performed by Schmidt’s company, the Terror Cottas.
Even when the residents of Ostrich stop to consider what they will sacrifice to make way for it, they relent. If you toss in a meddling duo (the Wright brothers themselves), make it an immersive experience (inside the Berger Park Cultural Center north mansion), and pack the cast with comedic actors, it becomes quite a farcical tragedy.
Opportunism wreaks havoc on good-natured citizens, as each gets manipulated out of their livelihoods by city-slicker geniuses. Trusting farmer Chuck Spenders (Jorge Salas) willingly gives up his alfalfa field, O. Henry–style, to make way for the Wright brothers’ airstrip. His sister Incandescence (played with optimistic aplomb by Shellie DiSalvo) loses clients at her B&B. Chuck briefly finds his backbone when asked to play the role of the colonizing Christopher Columbus in a local event, but wielding pretend power does not translate to his actual life.
Under the charismatic sway of the dandy Wright brothers (played convincingly by Pete Wood as Orville and Donaldson Cardenas as Wilbur), the townspeople don’t realize that they have agency in their own town. Playing on the lore of the actual Wright brothers being greedy, the brothers pompously blow in to receive praise and material accommodations in exchange for limited access to their power and fame. The characters are as trusting as children are of their parents in the face of such power, making it sometimes uncomfortable not to intervene. This might also be because the audience is essentially in the play—standing in close quarters with the cast, and shuffling from room (alfalfa field) to room (B&B) with them. The cast really delivers friendlyto-a-fault midwestern rube energy, making them both hilarious and tragic figures that are easy to identify with in the end. It makes their demise feel a bit more like a cautionary tale than an experimental one, but the message hits close to home just the same. —KIMZYN CAMPBELL THE OSTRICH Through 5/17: Thu–Sat 7:30 PM; industry performance Mon 5/12 7 PM; Berger Park Cultural Center, 6205 N. Sheridan, theterrorcottas.org, $5-$10 v
PREVIEW
IWith
Sapphopalooza stuns at the Music Box Theatre
By MICCO CAPORALE, SAVANNAH RAY HUGUELEY, TARYN MCFADDEN, J. PATRICK PATTERSON
SAPPHOPALOOZA
Sat 5/ 10 –Sun 6/ 1, Music Box Theatre, 3733 N. Southport, $11 general admission ($10 matinee), $ 8 Music Box members ($7 matinee), $9 seniors musicboxtheatre.com/series-and-festivals/sapphopalooza
t’s a great time for sapphics in Chicago— maybe not as good as it was five months ago, when there were more federal protections and resources allocated for women, nonbinary people, and the LGBTQ+ community. But it’s a better time than when homosexuality was pathologized in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, women needed a male signatory to open a bank account, and most public trans women wanted husbands, never wives or girlfriends. Recent years have seen an uptick in lesbian-specific parties in Chicago, like Strapped and Sapphic Factory, as well as lesbian-specific cultural programming, like the Music Box Theatre’s upcoming Sapphopalooza series. One reason there are more pop-up lesbian parties is that there are fewer lesbian bars overall. Movie theaters are also declining in numbers. Sapphopalooza, programmed by the Music Box’s marketing and publicity director, Elizabeth Arnott, marks something interesting about how the former group’s needs are influencing the latter’s durability. How do you get more people watching movies in public? Program for a niche that’s struggled for space. Across 13 films, which run from May 10 to June 1, the series shows sapphic identity as fluid, contextual, and enduring. While it leans heavily on contemporary works, the more archival titles bring enough of a thoughtful balance that you can almost forgive how many of the programmed titles screen somewhere in Chicago every year during Pride anyway. At least this year, sapphics are getting two months of gay little movies instead of one.
—MICCO CAPORALE
Murder and Murder (1996)
Full disclosure: Murder and Murder is a movie few at the Reader have seen because it’s been so effectively buried. It’s not available on streaming and remains hidden in DVD libraries waiting to be recognized for what it is: the final cinematic contribution of bold feminist choreographer Yvonne Rainer. The fi lm centers on two older lesbians falling in love and setting up house. When one is diagnosed with cancer, they’re forced to confront the future of their relationship in a culture that glorifies youth and heterosexuality. It’s loosely inspired by Rainer’s own later-in-life journey to lesbian identity and early 90s breast cancer diagnosis, and critics have noted its intellectual rigor and dark humor. This is one of the film’s first screenings since being restored in 4K and a truly rare opportunity for feminist cinephiles. Sat 5/10 at 11:30 AM, DCP, NR, 113
min., actress Kathleen Chalfant in attendance for a postfilm Q&A —MICCO CAPORALE
Johnny Guitar (1954)
When it was first released, Johnny Guitar received mixed reviews, perhaps because it was so ahead of its time in its gender politics and critique of Cold War McCarthyism. French director François Truffaut said anyone who doesn’t like it “should never be permitted inside a cinema again.” The twisted love triangle between Vienna (Joan Crawford), a bullish saloon owner; Emma Small (Mercedes McCambridge), a bank owner and rancher who owns a significant portion of the town; and Dancin’ Kid (Scott Brady) is imbued with jealousy more explosive than the dynamite blasting through rock to make way for a new railroad—a development that would benefit Vienna’s business but angers the other townsfolk who fear it will upset their way of life. The love triangle becomes a love square when Johnny “Guitar” Logan comes to town to work for Vienna. With Emma’s ruthless desire to ruin Vienna and her saloon, Nicholas Ray’s dramatic western portrays the thin line between love and hate. It will bring you almost as much satisfaction as a good smoke and a cuppa co ee. Sun 5/11 at 11:30 AM and Mon 5/12 at 4 PM, 35 mm, NR, 110 min. —J. PATRICK PATTERSON
But I’m a Cheerleader (1999)
Jamie Babbit’s color-drenched satirical romcom is a queer cult favorite that gets better with every watch. The film follows 17-year-old Megan, a high schooler who, despite being a feminine cheerleader who maintains proper Christian prudery with her jock boyfriend, is sent away to conversion therapy camp for exhibiting signs of lesbianism. The camp, True Directions, is an absolute farce, run by ex-gays set on “graduating” Megan and a band of other stereotypical queers into heterosexuals. Undeterred (encouraged, even) by absurd gender essentialist exercises, fucked-up therapy sessions, and simulated straight sex, many campers find their own varying forms of love and rebellion. Maybe it’s not a perfectly nuanced, in-depth examination of LGBTQ+ culture and oppression, but with a stacked cast featuring Natasha Lyonne, Clea DuVall, RuPaul, Cathy Moriarty, Melanie Lynskey, Dante Basco, and more, it sure makes for a gay time at the movies. Mon 5/12 at 7 PM, 35 mm, R, 85 min., preceded by short film Double Strength (1978) —TARYN MCFADDEN
to that complexity with all the leather, lace, and eyeshadow one could hope for. Wed 5/28 at 7 PM, 35 mm, R, 106 min. —MICCO CAPORALE
Bound (1996)
“It’s hot lesbians. It’s a mafia movie, but also a heist? I seriously haven’t seen a better movie,” said my friend the night after they saw Bound at the Music Box. The bold, virtuosic directorial debut of the Wachowski sisters hits all the beats of a classic neo-noir yet is unmatched in its sincere romance. Fresh out of prison, labrys-tattooed Corky (Gina Gershon) moves into the building of clever, iron-willed Violet (Jennifer Tilly), who manipulates the ditzy woman schtick as protection. The connection between the two is immediate yet goes beyond frisson classic to the genre; they’re so clearly taken with each other, and their love is the fuel behind their scheme to liberate Violet from her violent mobster husband by swiping the $2 million he’s laundering. Witty, sensual, and suspenseful, Bound continually brings you to the edge, till it finally lets you breathe. Fri
Most people think their generation produced the best of everything, but I’m pretty confident when I say that’s true of the teen movies of my youth, specifically those made between the mid-90s and early aughts that were meant to resonate with preteen and teenage girls. From Amy Heckerling’s Clueless in 1995 to Terry Zwigo ’s Ghost World in 2001, this era yielded some stone-cold classics that stand the test of time, and I’m lucky to count them among my formative cinematic experiences.
denied a wide theatrical release in the U.S. and relegated to home video and TV—because, having only seen the coed dance scene (which in isolation is more akin to, let’s say, 1981’s Porky’s), he didn’t feel the film would appeal to men, whom he said made the decision of what movie to see. The film’s producer, Ira Deutchman, supplied the print and was in person at Block to discuss the film and share the whole, sad story of how the human pustule that is Weinstein not only egregiously shortchanged the film but also Kernochan’s narrative filmmaking career. One thing I hadn’t noticed when I watched as a teen was that during the opening credits, it says “A Film by Everyone Who Worked On It,” something for which Kernochan sacrificed being able to join the Directors Guild of America.
5/30 at 7 PM, 35 mm, R, 108 min., director Lilly Wachowski in attendance for a postfilm Q&A
SAVANNAH RAY HUGUELEY
The Watermelon Woman (1996)
After seeing the 1930s film Plantation Memories, Cheryl Dunye, a Black lesbian filmmaker, becomes transfixed by a character credited only as “the Watermelon Woman.” She goes on a quest to learn as much as possible about the person who plays her, Fae Richards. With no traces of the woman in the video store she works in, Cheryl searches other archives and sees an opportunity to create her own narrative. With Dunye playing a version of herself, blending the lines of documentary and fiction, The Watermelon Woman explores how, as Dunye says, “sometimes you have to create your own history.” Sat 5/31 at 11:30 AM and Sun 6/1 at 11:30 AM, DCP, NR, 85 min. —J. PATRICK PATTERSON v
m mcaporale@chicagoreader.com
m shugueley@chicagoreader.com
m tmcfadden@chicagoreader.com
One such film is All I Wanna Do (1998), also known as Strike! and originally titled The Hairy Bird. This is one of those that I thought I might have imagined—buried by Miramax (more on that later), most people would have seen it on TV, which is where I first encountered this piquant gem. To that end, it hasn’t been widely seen and was thus a revelation for many who attended the 35-millimeter screening of it at Block Cinema at Northwestern University on Saturday. One friend who attended referred to it as the “lost Kirsten Dunst” film, which I loved; not only do I consider myself a Dunst superfan, but I’d argue she’s the common thread tying together many of the best teen films from this era. See also: The Virgin Suicides (1999), Drop Dead Gorgeous (1999), Dick (1999), and Bring It On (2000).
Written and directed by Sarah Kernochan, a two-time Academy Award–winning documentary filmmaker, All I Wanna Do is set at an all-girls boarding school in 1960s Connecticut. Along with Dunst, Gaby Hoffmann, Monica Keena, Merritt Wever, Heather Matarazzo, and Rachael Leigh Cook star as students, all of whom, sans Cook’s character, form a group of friends devoted to helping each other achieve their dreams, from the academic to the sexual. The group is activated when the school is on the brink of going coed, culminating in a hilarious and moving second half that reinforces the power of female friendships.
The film was buried by Harvey Weinstein—
Last week, I wrote about not seeing any themes in recent viewing; this week, I’ve seen a significant one, somewhat emblematized by All I Wanna Do, which is the power of community over more supposedly “legitimate” methods of change. This was a big part of Cristina Ibarra and Alex Rivera’s 2019 documentary The Infiltrators, which I saw as part of Doc10’s Docs Across Chicago lineup at the Gene Siskel Film Center. It’s about a group of young, undocumented activists who go undercover at a for-profit immigration detention center in Florida, helping to get a number of detainees released by way of public pressure. The screening was followed by an illuminating conversation between Rivera and Fred Tsao, senior policy counsel at the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights; Tsao is an avid moviegoer himself—that’s how we know each other—so to see him interact with a film in this capacity was exciting.
The activists are superheroes, somewhat similar to the “New Avengers” of Marvel’s Thunderbolts*, which, yes, I saw and liked. They’re more anti- than superheroes, per se; what I like about the film is not only that each of the antiheroes has done terrible things (a not uncommon motif in such movies) but that many of them are actively depressed—it’s implied that some are even maybe suicidal—and/or contending with addiction. What saves them, ultimately, from both total and self-destruction is working together. It’s silly but still heartening, this idea that by saving each other, we might also be able to save ourselves.
Until next time, moviegoers. —KAT SACHS v
The Moviegoer is the diary of a local film bu , collecting the best of what Chicago’s independent and underground film scene has to o er.
Kirsten Dunst in All I Wanna Do (1998) COURTESY BLOCK CINEMA
MUSIC
continued from p. 21
and my chest, I used my head, and I screamed higher. And you were like, “That’s it.”
BR: We tried out somebody else. They were really good, and they spent a lot of time learning lyrics. They came in so prepared, and they’re awesome, but they just weren’t the right vibe.
JG: Also, I’m just an asshole. I’m like, “Man, this is a super intimate thing we’re doing, and I don’t know this person at all. What if we don’t get along?” We tour a lot. We practice weekly. This is a relationship. It’s like, “Do I want to start a whole new one, or can I just get really lucky asking an already good friend?”
SB: You also just really wanted an Orlando band in Chicago.
BR: We used to joke about only wearing Magic gear.
SB: It’s still gonna happen. They made the playo s.
JL: What’s the dynamic between you guys now? Do you fight like siblings?
JG: Mostly Ben and I fight like siblings. We’re “brother-husbands.”
BR: [Jono and I] met in the tenth grade. We’ve been doing this together for longer than we didn’t know each other. And it’s turned into some domestic-partnership shit, like owning vehicles together and building things together. I think we all see it like siblings.
JG: Stephanie is definitely a little sister.
SB: I just stay out of it and let you guys squabble.
JG: Russell is always the voice of reason.
JL: Is that hard?
Russell Harrison: [Deadpan] No, it’s easy.
SB: That’s why you’re the voice of reason.
JL: Do you write songs the same way you did in C.H.E.W.? How do they come together?
SB: Some songs are only my lyrics, [but just] maybe one or two on a record. We’re really collaborative lyrically—it’s been really nice.
JL: I was listening to Human Zoo this morning and thinking, “Wow, these guys packed a lot into 15 minutes.” The subjects on this record are always relevant. But right now, they’re the things that [the Trump administration] is really going after people for speaking out about. “Human Zoo” is directly about colonialism, correct?
SB: Yeah. What started the lyrics is the instance of the Saint Louis World’s Fair. [Editor’s note: This fair, which took place over several
“Biden’s Coke and Trump is Fanta. We obviously know the stakes are higher now and what sort of abyss we’re cascading into. But it’s not like the Democrats didn’t allow this to happen.”
—Stress Positions guitarist Benyamin Rudolph
months in 1904, is more formally known as the Louisiana Purchase Exposition. It included a “reservation” of more than 1,000 people who had been trafficked from the Philippines, then a U.S. territory.] My family is from the Philippines, so Filipino history and colonialism and imperialism are huge subjects that I like to tackle.
“Human Zoo” was born out of that particular instance, but also just the concept of human zoos and putting people on display, and how that continues to a ect the way that Brown people are perceived and used for our bodies and for our images and as caricatures. That extends well past the Americas; one of the biggest instances of human zoos was in France. That’s where the line “Louder, in English / Louder, in French” comes from.
The Saint Louis World’s Fair is a huge forgotten history in the United States, and it’s really important to look into. That’s where a lot of really strange and bizarre stereotypes about Filipino people came from, because it was such a caricature put on display. It still continues to a ect things I hear [about Filipinos] up until now, and things I heard when I was a kid—things that white 13-year-old kids were telling me.
JL: The themes dovetail into a lot of the other songs [on Human Zoo], such as “Nakba.”
BR: I wrote most of that song. Originally it was titled “For John.” It was written for a friend of ours, and it was an acoustic song that I sang during the pandemic. I still have an acoustic version of it—I have to send it to him.
SB: I didn’t know that! I want to hear it.
BR: I had a pandemic moment, like, “I want to be a one-man Neil Young band.” I’d never just sang and played guitar before. So I wrote most of that song in 2021, and then obviously October 7 happened in 2023 and things drastically changed. It felt more important than ever to have a song specifically addressing the Nakba.
JL: One thing about covering music for the Reader is that we’re not a music publication; we’re a community publication. For someone who doesn’t listen to hardcore or isn’t educated on lefty politics, what would you want them to take away?
BR: I’m Jewish, and I was raised very oddly religious in a lot of ways. I became an antiZionist when I was an early teenager, and it’s been something that, with my family—some of whom don’t share my opinions—we don’t talk about, really. And now it’s unavoidable, you know? I think I feel a sense of duty. “Never again” for anyone, right?
So for me, it’s not something new. For a lot of people it is, and I love and hate that at the same time. But the hour is dire.
SB: There is a sense of duty to call out past, present, and future colonialist and imperialist tendencies with the United States. I feel like it’s been more di cult and also easier to kind of have larger conversations about these things.
BR: I’d also like to say that we added verses to “Nakba” together, and it wasn’t complete until then.
JL: How does it feel releasing it post-inauguration?
BR: Coke and Fanta, baby. Biden’s Coke and Trump is Fanta. We obviously know the stakes are higher now and what sort of abyss we’re cascading into. But it’s not like the Democrats didn’t allow this to happen.
spective, yes, it does feel very, very different. Both of my parents immigrated from Cuba, and my mom is worried like crazy. She’s worried about me trying to enter the U.S. again more than anything else about this entire trip, like me being a tattooer and people getting picked up for just having tattoos and getting sent to the supermax prison in El Salvador.
BR: From my perspective, nothing we’ve written about is a product of what’s happening now—it’s only gonna be worse. All those things, like the song we were talking about earlier, most of that was written five years ago. But if you’re asking, are we worried about putting out [music about it]? I think we’re aware of, like, maybe there could potentially be more of a consequence. But as far as things being di erent, they’re not.
JL: This is the second time you’ve toured Europe in six months, right? I got here Wednesday night, and so far a lot of people have wanted to talk about what’s going on in the United States and how it’s a ecting them here.
SB: Well, last time everyone just wanted to talk about the election. Now everyone wants to talk about who was elected.
JG: It’s also just night two. Last night, we just had a very nice time with everybody in Brussels. And today has just been a whirlwind. But I will say that, at least from a home per-
JL: Do you feel like maybe it’s even more timely?
JG: Time will tell.
SB: I think so. I’m sure that to many people that are not us, it will be.
BR: Ideally, it would be great to write a concept record about weird, fantastical shit.
JG: Yeah, if there was nothing bad to write about, we could just write storybooks together. v
m jludwig@chicagoreader.com
Clockwise from top le : Stephanie Brooks, Benyamin Rudolph, Jonathan “Jono” Giralt, and Russell Harrison onstage with Stress Positions at Roadburn last month DANTE
Recommended and notable shows with critics’ insights for the week of May 8
PICK OF THE WEEK
Rhiannon Giddens & the Old-Time Revue embrace the legacy of Piedmont blues
SINGER, COMPOSER, AND MULTIINSTRUMENTALIST Rhiannon Giddens has dedicated much of her career to exploring folk and roots music, including old-time, blues, Celtic folk, country, and gospel. In April, she teamed up with fiddler Justin Robinson, her former bandmate in old-time string band the Carolina Chocolate Drops, to release the banjo-and-fiddle duo album What Did the Blackbird Say to the Crow (Nonesuch). The record is a tribute to Black music traditions in their shared home state of North Carolina and to one of their mentors, old-time fiddle player Joe Thompson.
Thompson, who passed away in 2012 at age 93, was one of the last surviving musicians to carry on the traditions of Black southern string bands of the 1920s and ’30s, which directly informed the development of country and bluegrass. He was instrumental in teaching Giddens and Robinson the folk tunes and stories of the region, and the duo highlight his influence—and that of Piedmont blues guitarist Etta Baker—in their selection of 18 classic North Carolina songs for the album. They recorded many of them on land outside the homes where Thompson and Baker had lived.
RHIANNON GIDDENS & THE OLD-TIME REVUE Fri 5/9, 8 PM, Thalia Hall, 1807 S. Allport, $40. 17+
What Did the Blackbird opens with a faithful rendition of Thompson’s arrangement of Piedmont string-band classic “Rain Crow,” whose lyrics inspired the record’s title. Robinson and Giddens are joined by Greensboro rapper and multi-instrumentalist Justin “Demeanor” Harrington, who plays the bones, and the trio’s reverence for the material shines through their joyful performance.
At this Thalia Hall show, Giddens will be joined by her current band, the Old-Time Revue, whose lineup features Robinson, Harrington,
multi-instrumentalist Dirk Powell, guitarist Amelia Powell, and bassist Jason Sypher. As a musical scholar and steward of this material, Giddens tends to o er background information and insight between songs, but Old-Time Revue shows aren’t lectures—expect plenty of foot-stomping takes on traditional tunes and a few gems from Giddens’s solo catalog. —SALEM COLLO-JULIN
THURSDAY,
Joe
Craig Finn, Courtney Hartman, Nathan Graham, Steve Dawson, and Jonas Friddle A Weekend of Concerts, Workshops, Podcasts, and more! In Szold Hall SATURDAY, MAY 24 8PM
Pug In Maurer Hall w/ special guest Courtney Hartman
MUSIC
continued from p. 23
FRIDAY9
Rhiannon Giddens & the Old-Time Revue See Pick of the Week on page 23. 8 PM, Thalia Hall, 1807 S. Allport, $40. 17+
Valentina Magaletti Presented by Lampo and the Renaissance Society. 8 PM, Cloister Club, Ida Noyes Hall, 1212 E. 59th St., free with RSVP. b
Local promoters Lampo and the Renaissance Society are bringing drummer and sound artist Valentina Magaletti to Hyde Park for her first solo concert in Chicago. Born in Italy and based in London since 2000, Magaletti is a restless shape-shi er and voracious collaborator (she’s described herself as “really easily bored”), and in more than two decades of music making she’s crossed paths with dozens if not hundreds of artists, among them Nicolas Jaar, Bat for Lashes, Jandek, Nídia, and Susumu Mukai. She’s amassed a long list of regular working groups too, including Vanishing Twin, a trio with Mukai and vocalist Cathy Lucas, which overlays lounge pop with vivid audio collage; Holy Tongue, a duo with producer Al Wootton, which makes dubby, psychedelic dance music; and Tomaga, with the late Tom Relleen, which illuminated moody grooves with fractal, gemlike pulsations. On the 2022 recording Batterie Fragile, Magaletti plays a porcelain drum kit conceived by sculptor Yves Chaudouët, and its gamelan-adjacent timbres make her sound like she’s trying to play IDM with objects she found in a cave. In Magaletti’s solo work, where she has no one to pull her in one direction or another, she shows little interest in familiar genres and just as little interest in pure abstraction. She likes things to feel “slightly off ” or “impenetrable,” as she told the Guardian last year, but she also foregrounds texture, flow, and narrative. She has no patience for the dumb, vulgar machismo that seems built into modern drumming, so you’ll never see her showing off her speed or technique. She cites jazz drummer Milford Graves
as an influence, and like him she strives to find the poetry of the drums—a phenomenon dictated by the body rather than by the grid of meter. Magaletti treats the pulse in her music as a fabric that can be stretched and torn, opening up a kind of freedom that most drummers don’t explore: mischievous play with the simultaneous potential for pulse and notpulse held inside every instant of a performance.
According to Lampo, this Magaletti solo set will combine “improvisation and structured composition, some concrète dub textures, and B-movie atmospherics, driven by her distinctively twisted beats.” Because I’ve never seen Magaletti play, I asked Lampo founder and director Andrew Fenchel to point me toward a couple albums from her vast discography that might give me some idea what to expect. He suggested two solo records: A Queer Anthology of Drums (released in 2020 on Cafe Oto house label Takuroku) and Lucha Libre (released in 2024 on Permanent Dra , Magaletti’s label with
poet Fanny Chiarello). Though the pieces on these albums are less structured than many of Magaletti’s collaborations, they’re still accessible and o en beat driven. She uses drums, vibraphone, and other percussion, of course, but also piano, synths, samples, field recordings, toys, oscillators, and more.
On Anthology , “She/Her/Gone” underpins cascades of delay-treated piano and tinkling bells with clustered heartbeats of bass drum, as though you’re using a stethoscope to listen to freezing rain falling on your eyelids. “Body in a Room” phases electronic alarm-clock quacking against murky, throbbing tomtoms played in 10/8, while reverberant squalls and clanks shudder with bass detonations that sound like the approaching footsteps of something huge. On Lucha Libre , “Lotta” dri s in and out of closemiked scrabbling, adds loops of speech or acoustic guitar, and intermittently introduces a relaxed beat built from pillowy kick drum and whip-crack snare. “And There Is Us” is a sort of deconstructed dirge: Voices whisper and sing, a funereal synth drones in a slow-motion melody, a distant robotic drum pattern comes and goes, and scattered piano notes spangle everything like flower petals a er a spring storm. I’m still not sure what Magaletti will do at this show, but I hope I’ve made it clear why that’s a good thing.
—PHILIP MONTORO
MONDAY12
Frail Our Shared Past and Norfair open. 8 PM, Beat Kitchen, 2100 W. Belmont, $20. 17+.
High school bands come and go, and very few make an impact that lasts for decades. Screamo group Frail formed in Philadelphia’s northern suburbs in 1993, when four of the five members were sophomores, and lasted only till the fall a er their senior year. But in their brief time together, they put out a handful of singles and EPs and toured the country. Like many of their peers in the screamo scene, they adhered to a straight-edge lifestyle and used their fervent live shows to explore their le -wing political beliefs and critiques of American society. But unlike
Find
bands who viewed the stage as a soapbox, Frail earnestly sought to draw their audiences into an inclusive two-way dialogue—even though their music didn’t sound particularly approachable, with its metal-tinged riffs and the anguished, throat-peeling screams of vocalist Eric Hammer. The band broke up in 1995, partly due to philosophical disagreements about straight edge, and the members went on to finish their educations and launch other bands (notably Ink & Dagger). In the decades to come, though, their music inspired new generations of screamo fans, and last year, the Numero Group reissued 17 of their previously released tracks (many of them deep cuts) on the compilation No Industry. In February, Frail played their first concert in nearly 30 years—the video I’ve seen shows a group perhaps less ready to tear up a pit than their adolescent selves but certainly more accomplished as musicians. This Beat Kitchen date offers a rare chance to hear Frail’s songs live and get back in touch with the part of you that first fell in love with punk and DIY culture.
—JAMIE LUDWIG
Official Claire Red Scarves and Potliquor open. 9 PM, Empty Bottle, 1035 N. Western. 21+ F
Chicago singer-songwriter Official Claire combines laid-back indie rock with whispery folk, and her incisive, o en witty lyrics sometimes make listening to her feel like pricking your finger on a hidden thorn on the stem of a beautiful flower. The five songs on the hilariously titled 2024 EP Midnight Dickbiter reveal an artist who’s just as comfortable recounting run-ins with the prying eyes of mediocre men under the fluorescent lights of a big-box retailer as she is confessing her hope for true love and connection. (She recorded the EP with drummer Quin Kirchner and multi-instrumentalist LeRoy Bach, crediting herself as simply “Claire.”) The sparse, confessional “This Monthly Affirmation” celebrates avoiding unwanted pregnancy while seeking a romance that will last. “Don’t Ever Let Anyone Tell You to Be Yourself,” awash in dreamy acoustic guitar and shimmering chimes, retells the demise of a relationship. But while the music sounds somber and forlorn, the lyrics put a wry twist on the breakup song—her insistence that her ex was the whole problem, that he failed to be the man she told him to be, suggests that she’s either winkingly indulging her resentment (before, one hopes, self-awareness and accountability take over) or caricaturing a narcissistic jerk. Official Claire’s combination of sensitivity and straight talk taps into a familiar Chicago spirit that makes it feel like just about anyone could be an unofficial Claire. —JAMIE LUDWIG
TUESDAY13
Spellling Smut open. 8 PM, Lincoln Hall, 2424 N. Lincoln, $30, $25 in advance. 18+
Tia Cabral is in her ballad era. The Oakland-based artist, who makes music as Spellling, began experimenting with songwriting in 2016, after a friend brought her a MicroKORG synth to fiddle with. An English-lit major with a poet’s soul, she started by making song fragments and vocal loops (which she
Valentina Magaletti LOUISE MASON
Frail RAY MOCK
SAVAGE LOVE
Q : How long do you wait at the end of a blow job before removing the dick from your mouth?
a : If you’re giving a blow job, you’re free to remove the dick from your mouth whenever you’re done and you may finish before he does. But if someone is fucking your face—with your enthusiastic consent— then the person who is fucking your face removes the D when he’s done with your face/throat and not a moment before . . . unless something goes wrong and/or you’re not feeling it anymore and you withdraw your consent. In that instance, the D should be immediately removed.
Q : Should bathroom hookups become normalized outside of bar/club settings?
a : Part of the thrill of hooking up someplace you’re not supposed to—like a toilet at a bar or a club (no one is taking baths at bars and clubs)—is that you’re not
You’re good with terms. Got one for me?
a : I like “multiamory,” which isn’t a term I coined. Credit goes to Emily Matlack, Dedeker Winston, and Jase Lindgren, the hosts of the Multiamory podcast. Find them at multiamory.com.
Q : Should you tell your partner if their dirty talk is actively turning you off?
supposed to be hooking up there. Normalizing toilet hookups at bars, clubs, airports, locker rooms, hotel lobbies, and university libraries might lead to a spike in people hooking up in the toilets of bars, clubs, airports, etc., but normalizing toilet hookups would effectively eliminate a big part of what makes those hookups a thrill in the first place. Then people would quickly tire of them. So, if you want to keep toilet hookups hot, you should fight against their normalization, not for their normalization. Tell your friends that people who hook up in toilets are disgusting. Complain to the bartender about people hooking up at the toilet right a er you’re finished hooking up in the toilet, etc.
Q : Is there a term that encompasses all the types of nonmonogamy in the same way “queer” encompasses everything that’s not straight?
“Nonmonogamy” is kind of unsatisfying, both because it sounds negative and is only defining what it is not.
a : You could attempt to steer the dirty talk in a direction that works for you—to spare your partner’s feelings, reward their efforts, and satisfy their desire for some sort of dirty talk—but, if they don’t take the hint, tell them whatever they’re saying isn’t working before you go so or dry up.
Q : Can someone discover a cuck kink from being cheated on or was that there already?
a : Once the anger subsides and the betrayal has been processed, cheating could reveal a kink that was already lurking in the erotic subconscious of the person who was cheated on. But while, “I was cheated on and then realized I was a cuck,” is a popular cuck origin story in porn, it’s pretty rare in real life. Most cucks have to beg their partners to cheat on them.
Q : If a guy says he’s into bondage and owns a ton of bondage gear and you show up at his place and he says that he prefers vanilla the first time and if the vanilla is good, he’ll get his bondage gear out next time . . . he doesn’t really own any bondage gear, does he?
a : He does not. v
Read archives and listen to the Savage Lovecast at the URL savage.love m mailbox@savage.love
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Assoc Cnsltnt, Envrnmntl Plnnr - (Chicago, IL), WSP USA, Inc.: envrnmntl anlsys / NEPA plnng. Equty & cmmunty anlsys / resrcs / resrch. Salary $81,578. Stnd corp benfts. 10% trvl req’d for cnfrncs, seminars, client mtngs as needed. Reqs: Bach’s (or frgn equiv) in City/Urbn/ Envrnmntl Plnng or rltd fld; 1 yr exp as a Plnng Assoc, Design Asst or rltd role. Email resume to jobs@wsp.com, Ref: 4641.
Cartera Consultants, LLC seeks an Accountant. Mail resume to 1 E Delware Pl, Ste 500, Chicago IL 60611 (Elk Grove Village, IL) Oakley Industrial Machinery, Inc. seeks Chief Financial Officer w/ Bach or for degree equiv in Bus, Bus Adm, Bus Mgmt, Acctg, Fin or rltd fld & 2 yrs exp in job offer or in acctg, cntrllg or fin incl exp in mgmt tchnq, stratgs & polcs, fin mgmt & intl fin strtgy. Salary $120,000$150,000/yr. Apply to HR 1601 Lunt Ave, Elk Grove Village, IL 60007
Engineering Project Manager (Chicago, IL):
Lead & manage projs from inception to completion, ensuring on-time delivery, budget adherence, & quality compliance. Oversee proj dsgn, dvlpmnt, & implementation. Provide cost estimates, manage costs, & analyze blueprints, specs, & proposals. Prep time, cost & labor estimates & draft proposals detailing materials, costs & proj duration. Perform quantity takeoffs & solicit pricing from subcontractors & material suppliers. Negot, review, & eval contracts, price forecasts, & projected billing. $68,600/Yr. + bnfts. Reqd: Mstr’s deg in Civil Engg or rel fld, + 12 mnths exp in Civil Engg, Proj. Mgmt, or rel fld. Mail resume & cover letter to Taylor Excavating and Construction, Attn: HR, 3228 Wood St., Chicago, IL 60608.
Gripple Inc seeks Senior Application Specialist w/ Bach or for deg equiv in Bus Mngmt, Bus Econ or rltd fld & 2 yrs exp in job offer on as a prod spec in a commrcl elect mrkt incl exp prvdng tech asst, drwngs, lyout & suppt for elect instllns in regrd to commrcl const prjcts. Trvl to varus unantcpd
cstmr sites in US. Telecom permit. May reside anywhr in US. Salary: $84K-$111K/yr. Apply online https://www.gripple. com/gripple-careers/ or to HR, 1611 Emily Lane, Aurora, IL 60502
Investment Banking Vice Presidents, Healthcare Services sought by Piper Sandler, Chicago, IL to conduct in-depth statistical rsrch & fin’l analysis to support corp. fin transactions, etc. Deg’d applicants exp’d working in the healthcare sector, leading day-to-day M&A, capital raising, etc. & Series 63, 79 & SIE Lic. 10% US travel. $150$250K/yr. Apply online at www.pipersandler.com.
Morningstar, Inc. seeks a Senior Product Specialist (multiple positions) in Chicago, IL to guide core functions within the Direct product line - including responsibilities for the strategy & roadmap & guide engineering teams. BS in Comp Engg, Comp Sci, Finance, Financial Mathematics, Mathematics, or a rltd field, or foreign equivalent & 5 yrs of relevant work exp. Base salary: $147,742/ year. Add’l specific skills req’d. For position details & to apply, visit: https://www. morningstar.com/careers; ref. job ID REQ-049802.
Morningstar, Inc. seeks Lead Software Engineer (multiple positions) in Chicago, IL to build welldesigned, well-engineered, stable, scalable products across a variety of markets. BS in Computer Science, or rltd field or foreign equiv & 5 yrs of relevant engg exp in Software Eng. or rltd role req’d. Base salary: $148,949-$163,761 /year. Add’l specific skills req’d. For position details & to apply, visit: https://www. morningstar.com/careers; ref. job ID REQ-049595.
Sr Industrial Designer: Chicago, IL location. $62K-$85K/yr & std benefits. Send resume to: MNML, LLC, 170 N Sangamon St, Chicago, IL, 60607. Attn: M. Puhalla.
Tate & Lyle Solutions USA, LLC seeks SAP Basis & Security Lead w/Bach or for deg equiv in IT, CS, EE or rltd fld & 2 yrs exp in job offer or wrkng w/ SAP incl exp dsgn & drvng archtct, prfrmce & mntnc of the cmplt SAP envr endto-end; app suppt and/ or outsrcd vndr mngmt; vndr prfmce mgmt & rltsh mngmt w/large orgs & sr. stkhld. Telecom permit. May reside anywhr in US. Salary: $144,144/yr. Apply online https://careers.tateandlyle. com/global/en or to HR, 5450 Prairie Stone Parkway, Hoffman Estates, IL 60192
United States Drug Testing Laboratories, Inc. seeks one (1) Certifying Scientist in Des Plaines, IL to rev initl screening & confirmation data. Reqs BS in Bio, Chem, Biochem or clsly rltd + 24 mnths exp in clsly rltd ocptn. Reqs 24 months exp w/ fllwng: neg rslt cert; Instmtn exp w/ GCMS, LCMS, GCFID; Chrom & mass spec data rev; Data anlys, seqncg, & procssng incl usng LIMS; Stats anlys & adv math. Hrly Wage $37.17. Mail resumes to David Farber 1700 South Mount Prospect Road, Des Plaines, IL 60018.
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SERVICES
CHESTNUT
ORGANIZING AND CLEANING SERVICES: especially for people who need an organizing service because of depression, elderly, physical or mental challenges or other causes for your home’s clutter, disorganization, dysfunction, etc. We can organize for the downsizing of your current possessions to more easily move into a smaller home. With your help, we can help to organize your move. We can organize and clean for the deceased in lieu of having the bereaved needing to do the preparation to sell or rent the deceased’s home. We are absolutely not judgmental; we’ve seen and done “worse” than your job assignment. With your help, can we please help you? Chestnut Cleaning Service: 312-332-5575. www.ChestnutCleaning. com www. ChestnutCleaning.com
ICHIKO AOBA
LUMINESCENT CREATURES + GIA MARGARET
TROUSDALE
GROWING PAINS TOUR + BEANE, MIA ASHLEIGH AND BUFFCHICK
AN EVENING WITH RHIANNON GIDDENS & THE OLD-TIME REVUE
RAVEENA PRESENTS: WHERE THE BUTTERFLIES TOUR IN THE RAIN + RENAO
PETER BJORN & JOHN WRITER’S BLOCK TOUR +
MATT BERNINGER + RONBOY
YOLA
SOVEREIGN SOUL TOUR
URZILA CARLSON JUST JOKES TOUR
THE WONDER YEARS AND THE LITTLE KRUTA STRING ENSEMBLE + KEVIN DEVINE × RIOT FEST
KHANATE + JON MUELLER
ZIGGY ALBERTS + STEPH STRINGS
SAMIA
THE BLOODLESS TOUR + RAFFAELLA × CHIRP RADIO
ITS ALL GONNA BREAK SCREENING + Q&A WITH DIRECTOR STEPHEN CHUNG
ANNIE DIRUSSO BACK IN TOWN TOUR + DAFFO
GALLANT ZINC TOUR
I’M WITH HER WILD AND CLEAR AND BLUE + MASON VIA
PUB CHOIR SOMETHING TO DO TOUR
PROVOKER IN THE ROUND MAUSOLEUM TOUR + RIP SWIRL / FAERYBABYY