February 12, 2014

SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY FEBRUARY 12, 2014 ¬ STUDENT LED, NEIGHBORHOOD READ ¬ SINCE 2003 ¬ SOUTHSIDEWEEKLY.COM ¬ FREE

Recreating the Rosenwald

Deciding the future of a Bronzeville landmark in decline

THEASTER GATES, ST. BENEDICT ELEMENTARY, FREE SCHOOL, MC TREE, ENGLEWOOD FILM

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MORE INSIDE

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¬ FEBRUARY 12, 2014

IN CHICAGO A week’s worth of developing stories, odd events, and signs of the times, culled from the desks, inboxes, and wandering eyes of the editors

SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY The South Side Weekly is a newsprint magazine based out of the University of Chicago, for and about the South Side. The Weekly is distributed across the South Side each Wednesday of the academic year.

In fall 2013, the Weekly reformed itself as an independent, student-directed organization.

Previously, the paper was known as the Chicago Weekly.

Editor-in-Chief Managing Editor

Harrison Smith Bea Malsky

Senior Editors John Gamino, Spencer Mcavoy Politics Editors Josh Kovensky, Osita Nwanevu Stage & Screen Hannah Nyhart Editor Music Editor Zach Goldhammer Visual Arts Editor Katryce Lassle Education Editor Bess Cohen Online Editor Sharon Lurye Contributing Editors Jake Bittle, Meaghan Murphy Photo Editor Camden Bauchner Layout Editor Olivia Dorow Hovland Copyeditor Emma Collins Senior Writers Ari Feldman, Emily Holland, Patrick Leow, Stephen Urchick Staff Writers Dove Barbanel, Christian Belanger, Jon Brozdowski, Emma Collins,

Isabel Ochoa Gold, Lauren Gurley, Jack Nuelle, Paige Pendarvis, Rob Snyder Senior Photographer Luke White Staff Illustrators Isabel Ochoa Gold, Hanna Petroski, Maggie Sivit Editorial Intern

Zavier Celimene

Business Manager

Harry Backlund

5706 S. University Ave. Reynolds Club 018 Chicago, IL 60637 SouthSideWeekly.com Send tips, comments, or questions to: editor@southsideweekly.com For advertising inquiries, contact: (773)234-5388 advertising@southsideweekly.com

Cover photo by Luke White.

Correction: In our February 5 issue, “The Republican Party,” a story about a Republican gathering at Luversia’s Diner, incorrectly identified talk-show host Dan Proft as Dan Kropp.

Chiberia

In this week’s installment of “Let’s Measure Our Misery,” various news outlets have reported that this winter marks Chicago’s coldest in three decades. It’s also been the eighth coldest winter in almost a century and a half. The average temperature so far has been a brutal nineteen degrees, with twenty-two days hovering at freezing or below. Regionally, eighty percent of the Great Lakes are covered in ice. Though these facts mean extra fodder for small talk while offices across the city defrost their water coolers, we could have told you the same thing by counting the notches we carved in our icicle staffs for every day of stepping outside into pain.

The NATO 3 Are Not Terrorists

The City of Chicago may now rest easy. The notorious “NATO 3”—the anarchist activists who have been described as “sling-shotpacking goofs” by ChicagoNow and “dimwits who drank a lot [and] were often stoned” by the Trib—have officially been ruled as “not terrorist.” Still, the trio will not be getting off scot free for their supposed plans of arson-related felony. Jacob Church, Jared Chase, and Brent Betterly will be charged for “mob action,” a conviction that sounds more familiar to residents of the city of Capone, and will face up to thirty years in jail. Still, the Cook County State Attorney cautioned that we should not be taking the case of the 3 lightly, alluding to the recent Boston Marathon bombings as an instance of what could have happened in Chicago. This compar-

ison, however, seems a bit crass. In the words of Federal Prosecutor Jeffrey Cramer, “the jury here regarded them as more of screw-ups and goofballs rather than the Boston analogy.”

Fuzzy Finances

With award season upon us, eight lucky Chicago Police Department employees made City Hall’s list of the top twenty overtime earners of 2013. These men and women in blue each brought in over $78,990, in addition to their salaries, for covering their regular beats. In an attempt to more thoroughly patrol Chicago’s twenty most violent areas, the Chicago Police Department spent $103 million on police overtime last year. And although the strategy has shown results (crime rates have plummeted), this high cost has sparked concern about overworking the city’s fuzz.

Hover Me Baby

Community activists were buzzed unawares last week by a proposal to bring helicopters to Pilsen. Plans for a heliport, located at 24th and Halsted, were released this past week to general ire. Chicago Helicopter Express plans to use the heliport for travel and air tours of the city, meaning that the gyro of gentrifiers hovering into Pilsen now have to jostle for airspace with tourists. Local aldermen have tilted their rotors in approval, but many Pilsenites would like to see the project grounded, fearing that the buzzing would break their sleep time protorcol. ¬

IN THIS ISSUE st. benedict catholic

free school

rosenwald renovation

theaster on 95th

olivia adams............................4

“That’s absurd. All kids want to learn math.”

emma collins...............5

“I don’t have to talk to you about the project. This project is moving forward, despite these concerns.”

“I got my momma, my daddy, my art teacher, and Jesus, and they’re all saying something.”

““Whatever you are, you are one of us.”

mc tree

“The term Soul Trap came about when a local rapper, Fatboy Fresh, told me to mark my territory by giving the style a name.”

arman sayani....................10

christian belanger....6

broke hearts

black coffee

““And now you’re going to leave anyway.”

“Am I pleased with the locations of the film? No, I’m not pleased with it.”

deacon’s choice

“The entire community can benefit from seeing a homegrown independent film.”

jake bittle....................8 blackhawks

“Parents on the rink’s edge stare rapt, while on the ice Blackhawks staff coax the kids into four lines.”

olivia stovicek................11 maha robert sorrell....14 ahmed...................12 stephen urchick.................13

Catholic Education A visit to Visitation Catholic School

BY OLIVIA ADAMS

T

he sisters welcomed me into Visitation Catholic School’s beautiful sunken lobby, their smiles illuminated in the late-morning light. They positioned me before an elaborate illustration memorializing the school, one of Englewood’s two remaining Catholic grade schools, and joked about the routine nature of their upcoming lesson on the school’s history. Their laughter reverberated from the high ceilings and original tile work of the nearly hundred-year-old room, the first of many outbursts to echo from Visitation’s walls.

Englewood has faced a dwindling school-aged population in the last fifty years. A study from the Chapin Hall Center for Children at the University of Chicago detailed the declining population trends for Englewood’s seventeen-and-under age bracket, finding that population figures for minors fell by fifty-one percent from 1990 to 2010, with a thirty-two percent decrease between 2006 and 2010 alone.

Since 2012, Englewood and West Englewood have faced seven closures in Chicago Public Schools. In addition, sixty-eight percent of its children were living in poverty in 2005 according to the Chapin report. This percentage has decreased over the past twenty years, but the change is primarily due to Englewood’s overall population decreases rather than economic improvements.

As the sisters and I meandered through the beautifully-preserved, spacious hallways of Visitation, we passed by a group of elementary school children, gently led to their destination by a smiling teacher. We stopped to say hello, and all fifteen young faces acknowledged us warmly.

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“Say hello to our visitors,” said Sister Jean Matijosaitis, the principal of Visitation, eliciting a lackluster “hello” from the boys.

One boisterous student proclaimed his approaching birthday, and we all shared in his happiness with laughter and high-fives.

“How old are you now?”

“Eleven!”

In Englewood, and all over Chicago, CPS closures have left families with even fewer options for an affordable education.

Catholic schools have been affected by budget cuts as well. This past December, the Stewart campus of the Academy of St. Benedict the African (a fellow Englewood Catholic school) was closed due to insufficient funding for vital repairs to its heat infrastructure.

To assist their families, the St. Benedict campuses on Stewart and Laflin Streets, as well as Visitation, offer scholarships to students through the Big Shoulders Fund, a Chicago-based organization aimed at providing financial aid for Catholic school students in the city’s most economically depressed areas, including enrollment into the federal free and reduced lunch program. In addition, both Visitation and St. Benedict-Laflin stay open from 6am to 6pm, complete with before- and after-school free and paid programs.

St. Benedict, formally known as St. Bernard, closed in 1980 as the neighborhood transitioned and lost much of its Catholic population. However, the school quickly reopened with a new name, Academy of St. Benedict the African, in recognition of a new demographic of potential students. When St. Benedict’s Stewart campus, located at Stewart and 65th Street,

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closed last December, about thirty of St. Benedict’s students transferred to Visitation, adding an entire kindergarten class to the school’s population.

Other Chicago institutions have also lent their support to Visitation, solidifying the school’s historic leadership position within the Englewood neighborhood. DePaul University regularly sends students to tutor Visitation kids, especially within the arts department.

Matijosaitis continued leading me through the school, through several doorways and up stairwells before revealing an intricate mural piece by DePaul students on the stage of the auditorium. Traces of support networks like DePaul’s art and tutoring program run throughout the school building, supporting Visitation with the vital backing that keeps it operational.

Our trip soon brought us down several stairs into the school’s basement. As we approached the gymnasium, screeches of unhindered glee pierced through the darkness; a cavalcade of four-year-olds locked in serious games of childhood splendor filled the room.

“They’re just three and four, but they’re completely a part of our school community,” said Sister Diane Boutet, Visitation’s development director. “They participate in everything; if we have an assembly, they come, if we go over to church, they come

with us.”

This sense of inclusion adopted by institutions such as Visitation is perhaps the key to their success, especially among minority populations. Charles Payne, a professor at the UofC’s School of Social Services Administration, recently spoke about how Catholic schools tend to do well with minority students. He discussed the ability of Catholic schools to place emphasis on moral inclusion, instilling within their students a sense of purpose and the belief that they are welcome regardless of their circumstances. He described Catholic schools’ attitude as one of admission: “Whatever you are, you are one of us.”

Catholic schools such as Visitation serve as another option amid the scant availability of schools in Englewood. Many neighborhood public schools, the ones that remain open, are unsatisfactory for some parents, and placement into a charter school is not guaranteed. Kim Robinson, a receptionist and parent of three Visitation students, said, “There’s a lot of politics in public school, and [in] Catholic school there isn’t. And I’m not saying that Catholic school is all it’s cracked up to be, but at the same time, it works for me.” ¬

EDUCATION

Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Algebra In Hyde Park, the Chicago Free School plans to teach without testing

BY EMMA COLLINS

“T

his is the time that my junior-high math class voted to do more algebra,” said Lauren Beitler, founder of the Chicago Free School, as she displayed a photograph of her former students at the Albany Free School seated around a table, engrossed in their work. This moment was part of a presentation organized by Beitler at the Augustana Lutheran Church in Hyde Park—future home of the Chicago Free School—to educate twenty or so parents in attendance about the school’s philosophy and education strategy.

The school, which will open in August 2014 and serve about sixty students from Pre-K to eighth grade, will have no required classes. Children will learn core subjects like reading and math by meeting with teachers in small groups to learn using the method that best suits them. This means hands-on activities for some and exercises like word problems for others.

They will spend the remainder of their time taking classes in the subjects that most appeal to them. Classes will be small, about twelve students per teacher. Teachers will also interview each student in a particular class before designing the curriculum to ensure that everyone’s needs are met.

While the Chicago Free School will be a private school, it will strive to be socio-economically diverse by adhering to a sliding-scale tuition model. The average yearly tuition will be $6,000, but this fig-

ure will be adjusted based on each family’s income. While there will be no full scholarships, the minimum tuition will be less than $500. The school will also generate funds through private donations and fundraisers. Its status as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, which would exempt it from federal income taxes, is currently pending.

This financial model has proved successful

Beitler, who taught for six years in various middle schools in Chicago, said that “Because of standardized testing, the curriculum was getting really narrow, and the focus was all reading and math all the time, and in particular just the reading and the math that was going to be on those tests. I felt like that was leading to school turning into a really joyless place.”

The school will be run democratically—there is no principal. at other Free Schools. At the Free School in Albany, which was founded in 1969 and also uses sliding-scale tuition, about sixty-five percent of the students receive free or reduced price lunch, and around half are students of color.

There will be no standardized tests— the school wants to move away from traditional testing-centric curriculum in order to eliminate the burden on teachers to “teach to the test.” Beitler believes standardized tests force all students to learn at the same pace and in the same manner, ignoring their specific needs.

There will also be no letter grades. Periodic reports will document each student’s academic progress, social and emotional development, and other interests and activities. These reports will be accompanied by parent conferences. The school will also be run democratically—there is no principal.

Rather, students will vote on school rules, policies, punishments, and other operating decisions through student-led, all-school meetings. Teachers will moderate these meetings, but will refrain from active intervention.

“I am looking for an education for

my children which engages their fullness, to give them a sense of who they are and their capabilities, so that they can lead a life that is meaningful to them and to all of us,” said Laura Shaeffer, a future parent at the school.

In her promotional talk, Beitler argued that the Free School model has given students room to pursue individual interests that might be stifled—or deferred— in a less fluid educational setting. She recounted that when she was a teacher at the Free School in Albany, New York, she taught some eighth graders basic computer programming. A pair of second graders noticed this, and requested that the eighth graders teach them what they had learned.

Instead of dismissing this desire because the work was above their grade level, Beitler helped the eighth graders teach the younger children how to program. In traditional schools, large classes and strict time and curriculum constraints make this type of spontaneous academic exploration difficult.

“People say, oh, you’re a math teacher, how do you get kids to want to learn math?” Beitler said. “And I say that’s absurd. All kids want to learn math. If you teach it to them the right way, it’s fun for them. They like learning things, they like figuring things out, they like discovering, they like coming up with the answer. You just have to sell it a little bit as a teacher, make it fun.” ¬

FEBRUARY 12, 2014 ¬ SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY 5

Recreating the Rosenwald Deciding the future of a Bronzeville landmark in decline

BY CHRISTIAN BELANGER

“I

t’s fine if the grandparents move in with their kids. It’s when little girls and their baby daddies start to move in that there’s going to be trouble.” Church, a local newspaper vendor, was talking about the Michigan Boulevard Garden Apartments, better known as the Rosenwald. Standing next to a shack— wooden, with a corrugated roof—from which he sells newspapers and, more frequently, cigarettes to passing Bronzeville residents, Church held forth on the building behind him, mostly deriding its criminal past but also expressing cautious optimism for its future. If all goes to plan, the Rosenwald will be renovated and reopened later this year.

Long-vacated, the Rosenwald apartment complex stands on the corner of 47th and Michigan, in the southern part of Bronzeville, punctuating a line of storefronts and shops that stretches down much of 47th Street. On its southern side, the building is enclosed by a wooden wall, papered, perhaps ill-advisedly, with posters advertising a company—”King Kong Moving”—in big, bold, red letters. Through padlocked, rusting metal doors, empty courtyards can be glimpsed, and, on one side of the building, a large pile of branches sits, bonfire-style, behind a chain-link fence. Walking by, it’s not hard to spot the structural decay that led 3rd Ward Alderman Pat Dowell, in late 2012, to refer to the building as “a huge, hulking blight on our community,” though it is harder to spot its history—a history that led to a National Register of Historic Places designation in 1981.

Now, in an initiative spearheaded by a group of real estate developers, and enthusiastically backed by Alderman Dowell and the rest of the city government, there are plans to refurbish and renovate the Rosenwald, an idea that has been met with mixed reactions—including significant vocal opposition—by some Bronzeville residents.

Built in 1929 by Julius Rosenwald, co-owner of Sears and a noted philanthropist, the Rosenwald complex was, for the 6 SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY

first few decades after its construction, a popular, desirable home for working-class African Americans. During this period, music greats Quincy Jones and Nat King Cole called the building their home.

Around the 1950s, however, the financial decline of the surrounding neighborhood began to spread to the Rosenwald; as time

undertaking a similar venture in St. Louis with the Chemical Building, a structure that, like the Rosenwald, is culturally significant but has recently fallen into disrepair.

Meanwhile, the city has actively responded to Landwhite’s interest in the area, granting it $25 million in TIF mon-

Byron Williams claims that the Rosenwald’s redevelopment is a “low-hanging fruit for an alderman who desperately needs a win.” went on, the building decayed, until problems with plumbing and gas leaks forced the city to shut it down in 2000. The decay went so far that, in a cruel turn of events, the Rosenwald was used as a stand-in structure for Chernobyl in the 2011 movie “Transformers: Dark of the Moon.”

ey—and thereby subsidizing a considerable portion of the projected $107 million cost.

“The new Rosenwald…will reactivate 47th Street,” Alderman Dowell stated in a press release. “In addition, the development will provide 360 construction jobs and forty permanent jobs.”

oward the end of 2011, Landwhite Developers, a Midwestern real estate firm, began putting together a plan for investors to renovate the Rosenwald, with 331 residential units and 21,000 square feet of commercial space in the building. Additionally, the company plans to buy empty parcels of land adjacent to the building and convert them into parking lots for residents. Of the residential units, roughly half will be allocated for senior citizens, with the other half going to low-income families at thirty-year fixed-rate, affordable rents, ranging from $450 to $850 per month. This comes as a boon to the many Bronzeville residents who are “being priced out of the community,” according to the Institute for Community Empowerment, a Chicago organization that focuses on neighborhood activism.

While this is Landwhite’s Development’s first Chicago project, the firm is

lmost immediately upon hearing of the plan, several members of the Bronzeville community formed an organization called Rosenwald for All, declaring their opposition to both the manner and the substance of the project. The group released a collective online letter to Alderman Dowell in order “to clearly document the concerns we have with the current Rosenwald plans and our inability to support the plans in their current manifestation.”

One of the primary issues they raised was the manner in which low-income families would be clustered together in the building, which they said would greatly increase the risk of crime. Other problems brought up in the letter included concerns over a decreased ability to attract retailers to 47th Street and an architectural design severely lacking in aesthetic appeal, pointedly described as “conventional, unimaginative, and lackluster.”

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According to founding member Byron Williams, “folks within a four-block radius of the Rosenwald are overwhelmingly against the development.” Citing Alderman Dowell’s failure to bring a big-box supermarket to the area, Williams suggested that the Rosenwald development was a “low-hanging fruit for an Alderman that desperately needs a win.” Mell Monroe, another member of the group (and owner of the Welcome Inn, immediately adjacent to the Rosenwald’s north side), described the planning process as one of community exclusion, recounting how, despite protests

by Bronzeville residents, the Rosenwald plan was “rubber-stamped” through the City Council and its finance committee.

Both men recounted one particular incident that occurred on February 29, 2012, when Alderman Dowell told a group of residents in a community meeting, “I don’t have to talk to you about the project,” and, “This project is moving forward, despite these concerns.” Dowell could not be reached before this story went to press.

In a FAQ section on the 3rd Ward website, Dowell’s office attempts to answer some of the concerns raised by the group. They reiterate the proficiency of the Landwhite developers, stating that the company has had “extensive experience with “Low Income Housing Tax Credit and historic projects and retail deals throughout the country.” It also lists a number of concurrent developments occurring in Bronzeville, such as investments in local elementary and high schools, as well as public parks. In regards to the availability of groceries, the Alderman’s office argues that while they “work aggressively” to bring better grocery stores to the ward, senior residents will be able to shop at the local Save-A-Lot, or at either one of two proposed Wal-Mart stores (both of which are considered controversial developments in their own right), one on 47th and Cottage Grove—slated to open in summer 2014—and the other currently operating at 47th and Bishop.

In response to concerns over limited

DEVELOPMENT

luke white

As time went on the Rosenwald decayed, until problems with the plumbing and gas leaks forced the city to shut it down in 2000. commercial and retail space, Landwhite founder David Roos declared in 2012 that they would drop the unit count to 235 and raise the retail space within the Rosenwald to 75,000 square feet, although no specific retail ventures have yet been announced.

This has failed to placate Williams, who argues that, “If they did this a year ago, we probably would have been satisfied. But there’s a bigger problem—still too much density within the building, and there’s no real plan for the commercial space.”

O

ne bone of contention is 47th Street itself, with both parties decrying its current lack of commercial vitality. As the city hopes for some resurgence with new residents, the opposition points to an inability to support any more customers. Admittedly, walking along the short strip of stores, where there are plenty

of hair salons and barber shops (as well as two competing delis across from one another) but no supermarkets, it is difficult to envision exactly where a senior citizen could conveniently get groceries.

Nevertheless, some shop owners and local residents seem eager for the added business that an influx of new residents would create. The owner of a cramped hardware store half a block west of the Rosenwald said that he lost forty to sixty percent of his business when it closed fourteen years ago. Frank, who is one of the shop’s employees and has lived in Bronzeville for thirty years, said he thought it was good that the city was giving more people a space to live, and that he wasn’t too worried about crime. He is confident “that they’ll do a good job of screening the people who move in there.”

Further down the block, at a shoeshine

and barbershop, a former Rosenwald resident, Darlene, commented that while she often disagreed with Alderman Dowell, she thought Dowell was doing the right thing in this case. Darlene lived in the complex for sixteen years, and rejected its reputation for criminality, loudly reiterating that it had been a safe place for children to congregate off the streets. It was, she said, a place where “doctors and lawyers used to live and come out of.” As she gestured emphatically, lit cigarette in hand, she reassured the barbershop’s sizeable clientele that if the Rosenwald were rebuilt, she would happily move back in again.

Williams, meanwhile, is pessimistic about the success of the venture, seeing it as part of a more general pattern in Bronzeville. “Investors come in, see that their business plan is bad—there’s a number of mismanaged properties around the area.”

He predicts that once Landwhite realizes it doesn’t have a specific plan for who to rent its commercial space out to, the types of stores built in the Rosenwald will be similar to those already on 47th Street, and the community will experience little positive growth or change as a result. Eventually, he believes Landwhite will depart Bronzeville after it turns a quick profit, leaving the Rosenwald in much the same position it is now. While Williams says that community activists will remain pragmatic, hoping to nudge the project in a better direction, he still feels concerned. “The investor comes in and looks for money and the Alderman gets an easy win. If [the project] passes the fiveyear mark, I’ll be surprised.” ¬

FEBRUARY 12, 2014 ¬ SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY 7

PUBLIC ART

The End of the Line

Theaster Gates plans a million-dollar art project for the 95th Street Red Line

BY JAKE BITTLE

O

n Monday, February 3, artist Theaster Gates spoke to a small crowd in St. James’s church, on 93rd and Lafayette. The topic of conversation was the art installations that Gates will be creating for the soon-to-be renovated 95th Street Red Line station, just three blocks from the church. What started as a mild monologue by Gates, however, soon became an electrifying dialogue in which the artist and planner let fly all his complaints and grievances regarding the state of public art, public transportation, and the city in general.

The 95th Street station, which is the southernmost stop on the Red Line, is a critical link to the city’s Far South Side communities.

According to the CTA’s website, “there are roughly 300,000 people who live within walking distance of the CTA bus routes serving the 95th/Dan Ryan terminal.” The station is now the subject of a $240 million improvement project by the CTA, which will include a complete redesign of the station’s interior, platforms, and surrounding bus lanes. The project will also include the installation of two pieces of public art, for which the CTA hired Gates.

In order to get community input on the artwork, Gates decided to hold information sessions, like the one at St. James, where members of the community could come to ask questions or make suggestions about the artwork.

His presentation began calmly enough: someone who left after ten minutes might have even thought that Gates was nervous. Gates opened by describing his internal vision for the project, which he said would have to both represent the culture of the community and his own personal background.

“What is the point,” he asked, “where a community’s identity, and its desire to see its identity represented in public space, matches my own sense of identity, and my 8 SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY

desire to make a work that I believe in?

Maybe this is the problem of the public artist. I gotta listen to you, and I gotta listen to all the me’s in me. I got my momma, my daddy, my art teacher, and Jesus, and they’re all saying something.”

Gates spent half an hour discussing his inspirations for the project, citing in particular sculptor Martin Puryear’s “River Road Ring,” an enormous mahogany

maggie sivit

ring that has hung for decades in the Rosemont Blue Line station. Gates lamented the demise of Puryear’s ring, which was removed from the Rosemont station in 2013 after the mahogany started to rot. One of Gates’s main ambitions with the art at 95th Street, he claimed, was to pay homage to Puryear by recreating his ring in more durable metal.

Next, Gates went on to discuss his own recent work. Much of this work includes the use of decommissioned fire hoses as an artistic medium, subtly referencing the struggles of the civil rights era. Gates hinted that he might use hoses in the second of the two pieces at 95th Street. When

¬ FEBRUARY 12, 2014

he discussed the civil rights implications of his hose artwork, however, his tone suddenly sharpened.

“People say, ‘Oh, that’s really interesting, you’re like, a fire hose artist,’ ” he said.

“Then I’ve graduated from civil rights artist to fire hose artist. People say, ‘very interesting. I like this art. I want one. I get it, Theaster.’ ” This got a laugh from the audience, but Gates did not seem to think it was funny.

“Until we get to a point where we’re willing to talk about what it means to share space [between classes and races],” said Gates, “and that’s another kind of brotherhood—until we get to that point, things will remain like this.

They will sit in a lidded pot and eventually they’ll blow.”

Gates next opened the floor to questions from the audience of around thirty Far South Side residents and CTA officials. Someone asked Gates how much influence he would have beyond the two art installations. They asked if he would really have any control over the design of the station’s architecture and spatial organization, or of anything beyond his artwork. It was then that Gates’s temper started to heat up. He repeated that the CTA had only given him $1 million to spend on the art itself and the gathering of his team of artists, out of the $240 million allotted for the renovations to the station.

“I would like to know,” asked the man further, “how the city, how they’re gonna market your work. This is a black area.

How are they gonna get tourists to come out? How can you reach out to the greater community?”

“The project,” said Gates, “is $1.3 million dollars. You wanna do business with the CTA, there are a lot of rules. They’re already tapping me. I will make two works, one in the north station, one in the south station. I will not share it with my white brothers and sisters, although I’m happy to have them come look at it. This is a million

of 240 million. Can two works of art—one two-fortieth of the project—be the kind of symbolic work that would make people want to come down to 95th Street? I wish I had, say, four or five million. Maybe I could do more for the city of Chicago if I had a little bit more.”

“This gentleman has a contract for some artwork,” Gates’s questioner continued. “They got $240 million. You know what our community gets? Peanuts. Ten jobs don’t mean nothing. It’s just sad.”

As the man spoke, Gates echoed his comments with interjections of “mm” and “yes.”

“Whatever they sell,” continued the man, “Dunkin Donuts, at these stations, that are gonna generate money, our people are supposed to get it. Are they gonna let this man make suggestions about the rest of the station? No.” “No,” echoed Gates.

“Are they gonna give us any control?

No.” “No,” shouted Gates.

“You all been hoodwinked again, and again, and again.”

“Situation normal,” said another audience member.

Gates returned to the front of the room and thanked the audience for coming, ending the session half an hour before the scheduled end time. Gates’s closing remarks were met with thunderous applause from the audience. He spoke once more about his ambitions with the project, saying that he aimed to revitalize the station with his art, providing for the creation of “moments that wouldn’t have otherwise been able to happen.”

“Can we predestine space?” he asked.

“Can we predetermine a space that’s set aside for that kind of work, that kind of magic, that kind of public story? We need to hear each other, ar-tic-u-late-ly. These conversations lead to other conversations about black people about black leadership, about how we understand money, about what we share with each other.” The audience exploded with applause again.

“And also,” Gates added, “I’m angry.”¬

EMPLOYMENT

FEBRUARY 12, 2014 ¬ SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY 9

MUSIC

Branching Out MC Tree Develops His Soul-Trap Sound

BY ARMAN SAYANI

T

he reduction of Chicago’s rap scene to a hotbed characterized by dueling ideologies is too tempting for some journalists to avoid.

This pitting of nihilistic drill rapper against the wily, post-Kanye soul-samplers is, oftentimes, too simple. Tragically, artists in the middle, the ones who straddle the line bet ween genres often get lost in the shuff le.

Tremaine “Tree” Johnson typif ies the tragedy of being caught in the middle better than any other MC in Chicago. He is the pioneer of soul trap--a style characterized by its position in bet ween the t wo extremes of Chief Keef ’s aggressive drill rap and Save Money’s sophisticated lyricism.

The genre’s melding of warbled soul samples, aggressively synths and pulverizing percussion is stylistically refreshing. When paired with MC Tree’s Louis Armstrong-esque rasp, this makes for a unique sonic experience. “The term Soul Trap came about when a local rapper, Fatboy Fresh, told me to mark my territory by giving the style a name,” Tree revealed over a phone interview, “it was the best advice I ever got.”

“Sunday School,” a thumping nos10 SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY

talgia trip that hearkens back to times spent at the Salem Baptist Church of Chicago, was Tree’s f irst foray into the rap world. This project provides one of the best examples of soul trap’s origins. . On the follow-up, “Sunday School II: When Church Lets Out,” Tree irons out some of the creases from his earlier effort, delegating production duties to other beat-makers and recruiting some impressive featured artists, including Danny Brown on the truly stellar track “No Faces.” Overall, this follow-up album is more focused and polished, both lyrically and in terms of production, than his debut.

On his most recent release,”The @MCTreeG EP,” Tree charts familiar lyrical territory. Sticking to the fundamentals of soul trap, he succeeds in building upon an already impressive body of work. The album more than compensates for its relatively short length with a slew of punchy tunes designed to send the eardrums into a frenzy.

“Probably Nu It” is a solid opener.

Here Tree assumes the dual role of scat singer and shaman practitioner, delivering incomprehensible incantations over a repetitively hypnotic beat. The

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song, which Tree revealed was a late addition to the album, subverts the concept of the “cheater’s lament.” It is instead an exercise in smug self-congratulation. This is followed by the equally catchy “Like Whoa”, a spirit-rousing celebration of resilience in the face of despair. The song condenses the basic idea that pervades all of Tree’s work: a desire to make good music that has universal appeal. “I f ind that me talking about gang-banging or True Religions amounts to cheating someone of the Tree experience,” he confesses. “I can’t play that role.”

“Soultrappin’/I Believe,” the most Chicago-centric song on the album, completes the strong opeing trio , showcasing Tree at his most impassioned. He voices his misgivings about the superf icialities that have inf iltrated rap culture, criticizing in particular the glorif ication of rappers based on their fashion rather than their lyrical prowess or social concerns. The production on this track stands out for its use of everything from a sampled baby’s cry to the gentle strumming of an out-of-tune guitar.

The three songs that follow are solid, if unspectacular. “Stay Away”,

the most autobiographical number on the album, follows an intense narrative set in what appears to be Tree’s very own, now demolished, Cabrini-Green housing projects. The track is lyrically dense, with Tree wa xing eloquent about everything from picking up girls and dealing drugs to occupational paralysis and the mainstream media’s exploitation of tragedy. “Grace” and “Uh Million” are both collaborations that, while fun, lack the energy and ingenuity of the tunes that precede them. The album concludes with “God Like”, a largely beat-driven track that captures the paradoxical nature of the artist’s relationship with fame.

On the whole, “The MCTreeG EP” f its nicely within Tree’s musical ideology: “kind of like Jambalaya—an infusion of soul, RnB, hip hop Jazz, it’s a culmination of that and it’s sizzling hot.” This is true enough, and especially impressive given the fact he manages to weave together these varied sonic textures without producing an effort that is muddled or overwrought. Tree’s brand of soul trap has managed to avoid being labeled as a “fad ” while still remaining relevant and refreshing. ¬

REJECTION

Achy Breaky Hearts A week before Valentine’s Day, heartbreak comes to the Co-Prosperity Sphere

BY OLIVIA STOVICEK

T

he Co-Prosperity Sphere’s main area, a wide-open space with soaring ceilings, should seem vast, but tonight it feels intimate, filled by a low hum of conversation and the sounds of the three-man band warming up. Suddenly all the lights except those above the band go out, and the bassist’s preparatory strums have turned to music. A woman steps up to the mic and begins to discuss fascination with heartbreak, drawing on the Brontë sisters, Britney Spears, and crying in movies. Welcome to the Broke Heart Variety Show.

This first performance, organizer Tori Telfer’s introduction to the show, sets the stage for the perceptive, clever acts that follow. As Telfer explained afterwards, she wanted the event to feel like an old-fashioned variety show, but more mature and creative. The show, she decided, should make use of brevity and theming in its performances. To that end, the performers, singers, writers, and actors alike, tried to hold themselves to five- or ten-minute pieces about heartbreak, with the inhouse band, Kairos, improvising a “live soundtrack” as they heard the pieces for the first time.

Although each performance addressed the theme in some way, they came at it from unexpected angles. Amy Krzyzek’s heart broke over her cat Mr. Quiggles; she began by calling out “Here kitty kitty,” and then discussed her childhood with the dozens of cats that lived on her family’s farm, detailing the lengths she and her sisters went to in order to make their lives more comfortable and explaining how she dealt with the cats’ sometimes gruesome misfortunes. Rather than reading a

story, Shanara MouthPeace Sanders fused singing with poetry, holding the audience spellbound with “Reindeer Games” and “Love Wrong.” Danny Resner put a whole new spin on putting words in someone’s mouth by literally putting a small speaker in his mouth. It played a recorded message to an ex. The idea was that Resner had prepared what he would say in their conversation. This setup led to some hilarious moments, such as when the speaker said, “This space has been intentionally left blank for your answer.”

The overall feeling at the Co-Prosperity Sphere was one of community. The evening was comfortable and relaxed, as if everyone there was coming together to enjoy the work of their friends. The performers melted in and out of the audience as the acts came and went; as these performers were unafraid to blur the lines between performer and spectator, many of them mixed tragedy with humor. Rett Lowell’s piece in particular had this mixture of comedy and sadness: it began with a meditation on her fear of old people and ended after she discussed “friend marriage,” three deaths, and a dog so smart that she peed on the paper towels when everyone was out.

“And now you’re going to leave anyway,” Resner said through his speaker at the end of his piece. But though the show may have ended on Saturday night, Telfer mentioned that she would love to make this a regular event. For us, unlike Resner’s character, maybe there will be another chance. ¬

FEBRUARY 12, 2014 ¬ SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY 11

Limited Exposure An Englewood filmmaker hits the big screen, but not in his hometown

BY MAHA AHMED

B

ox office hits, best-sellers, Top 40 pop ballads and Grammy winners—most of the art we encounter on a day-to-day basis reaches us by a combination of timing, luck, and money (or lack thereof). Amongst the countless works that receive little to no exposure are most of the productions of one independent filmmaker from the South Side.

That is, until his latest film got picked up by some major theaters outside of Chicago.

Mark Harris, an Englewood native and founder of the Englewood International Film Festival, has been making extremely low-budget films since 2006. All of his creations have been DVD-only releases. As anyone who can be called—or refuses to be called—a “starving artist” knows, however, that one big break is all it takes to make years of struggle worth it. For Harris, this break came in the form of a film distributor who seemed to think Harris’s latest project, “Black Coffee,” a romantic comedy about the complications accompanying love, was “worthy of theatrical release.”

Worthy, that is, of release outside of Chicago city limits and south of 126th Street. The film was only shown in six AMC theaters nationwide, and despite Harris’s neighborhood ties, a Chicagoan would have had to venture to AMC’s Crestwood (127th St.) or Country Hills Club (177th St.) locations to catch “Black Coffee” near the filmmaker’s hometown.

“The home office talks to the studio and negotiates with them on where each movie gets screened,” said John, manager of AMC’s Loews 600 location in the Loop, when asked about the process of selection.

“Individual deals cannot be disclosed. But usually, if a movie isn’t showing at a specific location, it’s because the studio can’t afford to screen the film at a location where there isn’t enough interest. It’s all about the market composition.”

But after further insistence, Amy Timmons of AMC’s River East 21 location revealed that “the film distributor specifically requested the film to be played at these locations only in the Chicago area.”

Mark Harris seemed unaware of this request. When asked about his relationship with the film distributor, RLJ Entertain12 SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY

courtesy mark harris

Director Mark Harris, right, on the set of “Black Coffee.” ment, Harris remarked, “I don’t have any input. I asked RLJ as far as the film being played in Chicago…and [the representative’s] words were that he wanted that as badly as we did. RLJ helped create some kind of a marketing budget…so we hoped that they would do the right thing in putting the film out. Am I pleased with the locations of the film? No, I’m not pleased with it. [But] the film distributor can only fight a certain amount.”

One Village Entertainment, the specific sector of RLJ that worked on the release of Harris’s film, focuses on content targeting what they call “the African-American consumer and urban market.” Neither RLJ nor One Village responded to requests for comment on the film’s chosen screening locations.

If Harris is unruffled by the film’s exclusion from Chicago theaters, it may be because the movie wasn’t supposed to see theaters at all. “Black Coffee” was originally intended as a direct-to-video release.

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“[The distributor] saw enough of the film that they felt it was worthy of theatrical release,” explained Harris, “and I’m grateful for that. I’m definitely grateful for that.”

The budget that Harris was working with, on par with his previous films, seems almost too low to propel him to the big screen. “I Used To Love Her,” his latest DVD release, was made on a budget of $5,000; another of his DVD-only films, “Black Butterfly,” was made with just under twice that amount.

“With ‘Black Coffee’ we had a little bit more money than the $9,500 we did ‘Black Butterfly’ for, but not much more. The entire budget included paying the producers, the crew, the cast; everyone that worked on ‘Black Coffee’ received a salary with what was probably what other big budget films spend on lunch for a day,” Harris said with pride.

Despite the film’s underwhelming distribution through major theatrical release, “Black Coffee” was screened to a sold-out

crowd at last summer’s Englewood International Film Festival, which Harris helped found in 2012 to provide a platform for underexposed works like his own. “It’s very simple. I wanna use my talent, in order to change whatever condition people are in and to help myself, my family, my community. I want [Englewood] to be a better reflection of peace, harmony, freedom, justice, and equality. We know how powerful art and entertainment are. We want the EWFF to be a place where people can learn, and help develop and change the community.”

If “Black Coffee’s” theatrical release didn’t reach as far into Chicago as Harris intended, Harris still intends to stick to his mission. In his words, art “is one of the most powerful tools that can be used either for good or for evil. I’m trying to provide a spiritual message with film.” For now, though, Harris will have to continue to try and deliver that message himself. ¬

SCREEN

A New Angle “Deacon’s Choice” reps the South Side

BY STEPHEN URCHICK

mark harris

A

ired secrets, shredded cover-ups: the nagging urge to sort out a family’s twisted history and gloss its garbled narrative. The literature surrounding “Deacon’s Choice,” an independent film currently in production, suggests a deep preoccupation with voices and the stories they weave. Over the course of the film, the titular protagonist Deacon Shields will struggle to parse her past drug addiction and resist relapsing whilst defining herself against the dramas of her Councilman-father and the political world that bleeds into her own. Her entry into journalism and her day job as a CPS teacher both hint at an attempt to personally re-write reality, to change her world by teaching to it.

Shot largely on Chicago’s South Side, “Deacon’s Choice” becomes a small bullhorn for the area, tackling issues like local education and gang aggression. Screenwriter and producer Kenya Renee used the film’s geography as a resource in the film’s production. She reached out to involved community institutions like LISC Chicago, Team Englewood, and the Metropolitan Family Services, organized a series of internships for local high school students and has mobilized the victims of violence in a protest staged exclusively for the film.

Renee’s volunteer interns have been leveraging Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram

to promote the coming film within their circles in anticipation of a late spring or early summer release. “I’ve seen the power of the teenager promoting something,” Renee remarked. “I’ve witnessed that.” Last summer, students helped develop her social media apparatus and started to test its abilities. The stock tactic was pasting posts to Facebook timelines. Interns packaged Renee’s information themselves, or simply blasted Reneeher pre-prepared releases.

Danielle Griffin, the social media intern and student at Mother McAuley Liberal Arts High School, emphasized that advertisements geared for teens needed to come from teens. “If a teenager’s doing it, [other teenagers] think it might be more interesting, and it opens up eyes.” Danielle estimates that her Facebook blasts via Renee’s front-end account circulate to several hundred people. Lakeisha Woods, a summer intern who currently attends Johnson College Prep, was initially skeptical of advertising outright. “Promoting? I never did that. I’m like, ‘Okay, what is so good about promoting?’” Continued work not only convinced her of the social media project, but of the film’s personal relevance.

“I thought it was something good to speak out about,” she said. Earlier in the summer of 2013, Woods lost a friend to a gang related shooting.

Working for Renee and on the set

of “Deacon’s Choice” put her in a unique position to help her friend’s mother. That August, preparations were underway to orchestrate a ‘Stop the Violence’ protest to feature in the film. “Because this was a Chicago film,” said Renee, “we wanted to show how violence affects many people: classmates, teachers, friends.” Lakeisha recalled how Renee had approached the staff: “She had told everybody that we would be protesting a couple of days before.” Renee encouraged them all to contact anybody they knew who had suffered from the real ill denounced in the staged rally. “Kenya told us if we had anybody…I could tell them about this.” They were heartily welcomed onto the set.

Chicago Survivors—a group uniting family members who have’d lost their own in similar ways—showed up the day of the film shoot. Together, twelve affected motherms together joined the cast of extras.

The rally itself was conducted in front of a memorial mural at the Kleo Center on East. Garfield and Michigan. The extras waved signs, made noise, and for all intents and purposes played the part. “We are so thankful to the moms,” said Renee. “It was a very touching filming day.”

The filmmaking techniques used in “Deacon’s Choice” follow themes of speaking up, of drafting a new world where public pain no longer hugs private matters.

The staged rally exposed real outrages with close-striking impacts. It allowed them to be articulated in a new, productive way—, connecting victims in an artistic endeavor.

This relationship closely shadows Deacon’s bid to find herself in the present and to concretely assert her own happiness.

Renee’s confidence in her student interns reflects this insistent focus on unqualified goodness.

Renee remarked that many movies deliberately depict decrepit schools and that she instead wrote the classroom Deacon teaches as a better place. Danielle and Lakeisha’s internships were themselves quality narratives. Danielle felt she’d put her foot in the door, and had already started looking for contacts in the worlds of cinema and performance arts. (“I’m really…into acting and filmmaking.”) Lakeisha understands that she’ll need to promote herself, too. “I can make up flyers, or I can…call up people.”

Renee thinks that “the entire community can benefit from seeing homegrown… independent film.” And the small endeavors organized by “Deacon’s Choice” prove that the community also benefits from being included in that indie’s film’production. Their efforts have fostered new voices—letting students take control of a film company’s media trumpet, and giving local victims an event to rally around. ¬

FEBRUARY 12, 2014 ¬ SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY 13

PLAY

For the Kids A Blackhawks hockey clinic in Hyde Park

BY ROBERT SORRELL

S

now falls fast over the ice rink on the Midway Plaisance as parents and children stand inside the rental area, pulling on extra pairs of socks and pants.

In one corner, a few men and women in Blackhawks gear tower conspicuously, chatting and wrapping tape around hockey sticks. Each of the children in attendance receives a red or white Blackhawks jersey, which they pull over their already bulging jacketed torsos.

Parents on the rink’s edge stare rapt, as if watching a championship match, while on the ice Blackhawks staff coax the kids into four lines. The coaches manage the children like sheepdogs, giving them slight nudges and then watching them glide or flop onto the ice, cushioned by large jackets and tiny Blackhawks helmets.

The Chicago Blackhawks hockey team has led hockey clinics in Chicago parks for at least ten years (no one seems to know when exactly they started). Blackhawks instructors visit each of the six outdoor rinks run by the Chicago Parks District at least once during the clinic. It’s a big hit with the kids.

Outside, rink General Manager Gary Gallik stands under a small heater. “It’s a miracle we’re up and running,” he says as the snow accumulates on the ice. Unperturbed by the chill, he walks out onto the ice to take a picture of the small children— six to nine years old—and the comparatively giant Blackhawks instructors.

Around the side of the rental building, Gallik and the staff responsible for the rink’s maintenance have good reason to be unhappy about the snow. Each inch that piles up on the ice requires up to an hour of driving the Zamboni around the rink.

One man, wearing a Blackhawks stocking cap with a red pom on the top, shrugs it off: “I’m used to it.” Another parent adds a reminder: “It’s all about the kids.”

The parents, with faces stretched into huge smiles, aren’t having such a bad time themselves. One of them, Rebecca Maxcy, lives on the North Side but sends her 14 SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY

VISUAL ARTS Performing Images From the late fourteenth to the early twentieth centuries, opera and theater were central to Chinese cultural life at the Imperial Court and in rural villages alike. This flowering of theater produced an inevitable ripple effect far beyond the stage. Operatic motifs are found on ceramics, scroll paintings, books, fans, and textiles. “Performing Images,” a new exhibit at the Smart Museum of Art, compiles a stunning array of such objects from the Ming and Qing dynasties. The show is being launched in concert with a five-month-long festival, “Envisioning China: A Festival of Arts and Culture,” that celebrates Chinese art, history, and culture with over forty events.

“Performing Images” runs alongside another exhibit at the Smart, “Inspired by the Opera: Contemporary Chinese Photography and Video.” Together, these two collections form an unbroken narrative of an important field of Chinese visual art from its origins in medieval opera through its present incarnation.Smart Museum of Art, 5550 S. Greenwood Ave. Februrary 13-June 15.

Tuesday-Wednesday, 10am-5pm; Thursday, 10am-8pm; Friday-Sunday, 10am-5pm. (773)702-0200. smartmuseum.uchicago.edu (Lillian Selonick)

Paul’s NOT Gay In 2009, Slow Gallery opened in Pilsen and asked, “Paul WHO?” Now, the gallery will celebrate its fifth anniversary—traditionally observed with gifts of wood—with an exhibition grounded in the statement that “Paul’s NOT Gay.” On Valentine’s Day 2014, a handful of the artists who contributed work to the gallery’s first show will return to the space to defend (or refute) the claim.

The exhibition is described as “tongue-in-cheek (or other body parts),” so it’s bound to get interesting. Bring a date or show up stag and spend your V-Day ruminating on the fact that “Paul’s NOT Gay.” Slow Gallery, 2153 W. 21st St. Opening reception Friday, February 14, 6pm-9pm.

February 14-March 14. Saturdays, noon-5pm. (773)6458803. paul-is-slow.info (Katryce Lassle) wei yi ow

kids to school at the UofC’s Lab Schools.

Another, Reuben Gonzales, lives in East Hyde Park and says his two daughters and son “love hockey,” even as one of his daughters sits contentedly on a mound of snow on the sidelines, her tiny white and pink snow-panted legs tucked under her.

Standing a bit further back, Michael Durkin admits he drove down to Chicago from Milwaukee. Slightly older than the other parents, he modestly points out his son Conor to those around him. The big one there, closest to us, leading the kids through a skating drill wearing the Blackhawks hat.

Braving the wind that’s currently rushing down the Midway and reddening faces, Michael drove two hours to watch his son Conor strap on skates and spend an afternoon in the outdoor chill. As the day wears on, the sun sinks slowly toward the horizon, and snow falls so thick it looks like fog. But Conor continues skating back and forth across the rink, while Michael continues standing on the sidelines—just another parent, watching his son do something he loves. ¬

¬ FEBRUARY 12, 2014

2nd Fridays Gallery Night What better way to spend a Friday evening than by wandering through dozens of open art spaces around Pilsen’s South Halsted and 18th streets, schmoozing with artists and art lovers alike—for free? On the second Friday of every month, Pilsen’s Chicago Arts District hosts a 2nd Fridays Gallery Night to sate the artsy voyeur in you.

Galleries and studio spaces alike are open to the public, allowing you to not only visit some of Pilsen’s running exhibitions, but to catch a glimpse of works-in-progress and the artists behind them. Chicago Arts District, 1821 S. Halsted St. Friday, February 14, 6-10pm. Second Friday of every month. (312)738-8000 Ext 108. chicagoartsdistrict. org (Katryce Lassle)

Ladydrawers: Our Fashion Year and Other Projects The Ladydrawers Comics Collective is a loose group of “women, men, transgender, and non-binary gender folk” concerned with tackling the influence of race, gender, and sexuality on the comics industry and labor at large.

Their projects include “Don’t Be a Dick,” a series of six comics for Bitch Magazine, and “Our Fashion Year,” a long-term reporting project on gender in the international garment and sex trades, both drawn up in beautiful graphic panels. The Ladydrawers will come together once again on Valentine’s Day for a night of lady-centric comics at Pilsen’s Uri-Eichen Gallery, featuring artists Sarah Jaffe, Delia Jean, Julia Gfrörer, Melissa Mendes, Fran Syass, and Anne Elizabeth Moore, plus a sneak peek at the collective’s upcoming “Comics Undressed” documentary. Uri-Eichen Gallery, 2101 S. Halsted Ave. Friday, February 14, 6-10pm. (312)852-7717. uri-eichen. com (Bea Malsky)

Regret How a person handles the mistakes they’ve made and the regrets they carry can say a lot about them.

Repressing or dwelling; shame or blame; unless you’ve made all the right decisions in life (and you haven’t) you have had to grapple with—maybe even master—a way of coming to terms with your regrets. As Chicago Art Department puts it, “the best way to start a new year is to dwell on the mistakes you made in the last.” Whether you’re looking to satisfy your schadenfreude or find

comfort in your own regrets, an exhibition dedicated to exploring the sentiment is sure to make for some interesting conversations with fellow gallery-goers. Chicago Art Department, 1932 S. Halsted #101. Opening reception Friday, February 14, 6pm-10pm. Free. (312)725-4223. chicagoartdepartment.org (Katryce Lassle)

Topographical Depictions of the Bronzeville Renaissance Multidisciplinary artist Samantha Hill makes history every day at the Hyde Park Art Center. More accurately, Hill is constantly reshaping history, experimenting with archival and narrative practices to tell the stories of Bronzeville’s storied past in the liveliest of ways. Her first solo exhibition, “Topographical Depictions” is Hill’s attempt to construct a vibrant and ever-changing map of one South Side neighborhood’s history; the exhibition, which encourages audience participation, won’t look the same from one moment to the next. Part of the gallery is set up as an “office” in which Hill will work in real time every Saturday. She will also be creating tintype portraits of prominent Bronzeville community members, which will be displayed at Bronzeville’s Blanc Gallery starting February 28. Hyde Park Art Center, 5020 S. Cornell Ave. Through May 18. “Office hours” Saturdays 11am-3pm, starting February 15. Monday-Thursday, 9am-8pm; Friday-Saturday, 9am-5pm; Sunday, noon-5pm.

Free. (773)324-5520. hydeparkart.org (Katryce Lassle)

Photorealism in the Digital Age For New York-based artist Yigal Ozeri and other

photorealistic painters, there is much to be gained by rendering a photograph with paint on canvas. The works they produce capture all of the detail and depth of a photograph, and simultaneously seem to project the image into an ethereal, dreamy world beyond our own. With the quality of digital photography constantly improving, photorealistic painters can capture and magnify intricate details more vividly (and realistically) than ever. Mana Contemporary Chicago explores some of Israeli-born Ozeri’s most recent work in their upcoming exhibition “Photorealism in the Digital Age,” shedding light on an ever-changing form of painting that has fascinated for decades. Mana Contemporary Chicago, 2233 S. Throop St. Opening reception Saturday, February 15, 5pm-8pm. February 15-April 15. Call for gallery hours. Free. (312)8508301. manafinearts.com (Katryce Lassle)

The Fifth Dimension The fabled “fifth dimension” has piqued the interest of artists since at least the early twentieth century. While there is no consensus about what the fifth dimension actually is, the Logan Center for the Arts has invited seven artists to install their works in the Logan Center Gallery gradually over the course of two months. The seven artists’ works appear sequentially, each a few days after the last. With pieces that promise to push past the gallery’s very walls, “The Fifth Dimension” claims not to be an exhibit about the fifth dimension, but the fifth dimension itself. Just like the differing conceptions of the fifth dimension, the exhibit space changes as each artist installs his or her work, offering up a constantly evolving interpretation of the fifth dimension as a concept. If nothing else, the exhibit will certainly travel through time and space, promising equal parts whimsy and perceptual shifts. Logan Center for the Arts, 915 E. 60th St. Through February 16. Monday-Saturday, 8am-10pm; Sunday, 11am-8pm. Free. (773)702-2787. arts.uchicago. edu (Paige Pendarvis)

Miami Dutch They preview us to curiosity with the strangeness of their release. I try to parse their gnomish subtext but lose myself as I take up this tongue-tripping, blurb-breaking, press-punching tone. “Miami Dutch,” a new exhibition going up at Queer Thoughts, insists on becoming the Last Time You Did Something for the First Time.

Coupling an unhinged and gestural short story with an exuberantly bright and sharp-edged painting, they argue on their website that the intersection might just “break the adverbial body and her discreet geometries,” “the inaccessible plan of the surface.” The prose resists a simple gloss, the composition seemingly shivers itself into shapes, and you, gallery-goer, will remake reality.

Can you feel it? Queer Thoughts Gallery, 1640 W. 18th St. #3. Through February 23. Hours by appointment. qtgallery. net (Stephen Urchick)

ARTS CALENDAR Hidden Gems Community-based art is no new phenomenon on the South Side. Before Theaster Gates, the likes of Charles White, Henry Avery, Archibald Motley, Jr., Marion Perkins, and other influential locals once called the South Side Community Arts Center their artistic home. Started by the Works Progress Administration, Bronzeville’s historic SSCAC has been accumulating an impressive collection of works by African-American artists since 1940. Though it was originally funded by federal programs, all funding was cut during World War II; community investment is what’s kept the center alive this long. With their new exhibition “Hidden Gems,” SSCAC celebrates Black History Month by sifting through the archives and displaying some rare old pieces from their permanent collection. South Side Community Art Center, 3831 S. Michigan Ave. Through March 1. Free.

(777)373-1026. southsidecommunityartcenter.com (Grace Gleason)

Fragmentos It’s how most of us remember our childhoods: in fragments, abstract bits of memories that we are sometimes surprised we’ve kept with us. We all carry mental maps of our youth; Mexican-American artist Pilar Acevedo lays hers out in full color. She works through poetry, painting, sound, sculpture, and found materials to reimagine not only her childhood, but also the aspects of childhood that many women share. Surreal, uncanny, and even a bit frightening, “Fragmentos” places girlhood in a dream space that might turn into a nightmare at any moment. You survived childhood; “Fragmentos” is a wonderful opportunity to reflect on those years you thought you’d forgotten. National Museum of Mexican Art, 1852 W. 19th St. Through July 13. Tuesday-Sunday, 10am-5pm. Free. (312)738-1503. nationalmuseumofmexicanart.org (Katryce Lassle)

STAGE & SCREEN Fool for Love A secluded Mojave desert motel becomes the setting for a tempestuous couple’s final stand. Sam Shepard’s “Fool for Love” falls in line with his other dramas, each an emotional storm of family crises, love, bitterness, and forgiveness. As the two lovers, May and Eddie, clash, reconcile, and crash again, they are visited by the spectral figure of the Old Man (portrayed in University Theater’s production by UofC theater lecturer David New).

Dark, stormy, but ultimately rewarding, Sam Shepard’s “Fool for Love” promises to lay the full spectrum of human relationships on the motel floor. Logan Center for the Arts, 915 E. 60th St. Theater West. February 13-15, Thursday-Friday, 7:30pm; Saturday, 2pm and 7:30pm. $6 in advance, $8 starting two hours before the show.

(773)753-4821. arts.uchicago.edu (Meaghan Murphy)

Edward Scissorhands

This Valentine’s Day, Doc films features the timeless tale of doomed love between the thing that goes bump in the night and the daughter of an Avon saleswoman.

Frequent collaborators and creepy creepy soul twins Tim Burton and Johnny Depp come to Doc via their 1990 film, “Edward Scissorhands.” The film is the first in a two-decade, ongoing streak of bizarre cinematic feats.

Here, Depp stars as a fey frankenstein, the creation of a scientist who died before he could build hands for his creation. In their place, his limbs end in scissor contraptions worthy of Inspector Gadget. After Edward is discovered and subsequently adopted by a local saleswoman, his stabby digits threaten his newfound home in suburbia even as they earn him acclaim as a hedge-trimmer. Equal parts camp and sharp dialogue, the film cuts through prejudice to explore what love is really about: ice sculptures. Max Pavlevsky Cinema, 1212 E 59th St. Friday, February 14, 7pm, 9pm, 11pm. $5. (773)702-8575. docfilms.uchicago.edu (Hannah Nyhart)

Anna, in the Darkness Those who like to leave the light on at night might want to avoid Dream Theatre Company’s newest horror.

“Anna, in the Darkness” sheds only shards of light on its title character, a young special education teacher played

by Megan Merrill. The one-woman show keeps tension

piqued , casting the stage’s only face in the digital glow of a cell phone or the flicker of a candle. House playwright Jeremy Menekseoglu’s scare ran in 2012 and again last Fall, and now goes up Friday nights as an open run. Anna remains trapped in her house, hunted by a town outside, her guilt or innocence kept carefully ambiguous. The play’s a good bet for anyone who likes a little psycho with their thriller. This house is definitely haunted; the only question is by whom. Dream Theatre Company, 556 W. 18th St. Fridays: February 14, March 14, April 11, May 9. $17-20. (773)552-8616. dreamtheatrecompany.com (Hannah Nyhart)

Uptight John Ford’s 1935 film The Informer told the story of a fighter in the Irish Republican Army who was expelled after refusing to execute a police officer. In 1968, Jules Dassin remade Ford’s film, turning Dublin into Cleveland, recasting the IRA as a black revolutionary organization, and building the plot around the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. After an unemployed steel worker sells out a militant, a price is put on his head and the chase is on, with a driving funk soundtrack from Booker T. Jones. Writer and architectural critic Lee Bey will introduce the film and lead a discussion after the screening. Black Cinema House, 6901 S. Dorchester Ave. Sunday, February 16, 4pm. blackcinemahouse.org (Zavier Celimene)

Taste of Cherry Days after Valentine’s Day, film series Death By Cinema skirts cozy ideas of eternal love to focus on mortality. In their upcoming, and final, offering, the series presents the 1997 film “Taste of Cherry,” from Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami. The movie’s protagonist drives through the Iranian desert in pursuit of suicide, and someone to bury him. Slow, wide scenes of a bleak landscape frame a meditation on death, and when it is just to choose it. The film doesn’t answer all of the questions it poses. University professors across Anthropology, English and Art History will form a panel following the screening. The series is a living mortal production, presented in conjunction with the Art/Science initiative.

Logan Center for the Arts, 915 E. 60th St. Screening room.

Monday, February 17. 7pm. (773)702-2787. arts.uchicago. edu (Hannah Nyhart)

Twin Peaks Cocktail Party It’s been twenty five years since the sheriff dragged Laura Palmer’s bloated, plastic-wrapped corpse to shore in a small town in the pacific northwest. Step back into David Lynch’s charmingly twisted world of Twin Peaks by dressing up as your favorite character for the 25th anniversary of Laura’s death. Join Maria’s for a damn fine cup of coffee, provided by Bridgeport Coffee, and eat some savory pies and donuts from Pleasant House and Enoch’s, respectively. Watch the pilot of the show that opened the possibility of capital-A Art television while the collection of ventriloquist dummies at Maria’s watches you. Bring your own log. Okay, Diane, I’ve got to go. Maria’s Packaged Goods & Community Bar. 960 W 31st St. Sunday, February 23, 6-9pm. Free. (773)8900588. community-bar.com (Kalil Smith-Nuevelle)

MUSIC Johnny Winter While albino blues legend Johnny Winter is generally more closely associated with Texas than Chicago, the guitarist’s connections to the Windy City actually run quite deep. The Beaumont, Texas native didn’t find his big break until he came up to Chicago to jam with Illinois instrumental wunderkind Mike Bloomfield. It was here that he was scouted by execs from Columbia Records, who then released his first two albums, both of which received substantial praise. It was here that he also met local legend Muddy Waters for whom Winter produced not one, not two, but three Grammy-winning blues albums. In recent years, Winter has remained active, releasing old recordings of his iconic Woodstock performance in 2009 and touring and performing. The ever-rambling blues journeyman now finds himself once again back in Chicago for a February meet-and-greet at Reggies. Reggies, 2105 S. State St. Sunday, February 13,

5pm-6pm. All ages. Free. (312)949-0120. reggieslive.com (Zach Goldhammer)

Juelz Santana Last January, Juelz Santana of The Diplomats (“It’s Dipset, b$%!h”) went solo for the first time since 2005 with his mixtape, “God Will’n.” Positively dripping with superstar features, the long-awaited project revealed that Santana’s Uptown, New York wit is just as sharp (and his entourage just as fly) as it was when he dropped the perpetually addictive “There It Go (The Whistle Song)” nearly a decade ago. Now, one year since his last mixtape release, Santana is poised to make the jump from “Whassup? I’m Back” status to “No Seriously, I’m BACK” by releasing his third studio album, “Born to Lose, Built to Win,” an album which he has been working on since before Obama was elected. Pop over to The Shrine on February 13 and catch the fabled Harlem rhymester reclaim his throne in the Midwest. The Shrine, 2109 S. Wabash Ave. Thursday, February 13. Doors open at 10pm. $20. (312)753-5700. theshrinechicago.com (Kari Wei)

Hyde Park Folk Festival Walk right in, sit right down for the fifty-fourth annual Hyde Park Folk Festival. The festival, which since 1961 has brought artists like the New Lost City Ramblers, the Staple Singers, and Muddy Waters to the Mandel Hall stage, is back with a lineup ranging from veteran artists Bobby Hicks and Calvin Bridges to two promising new acts, Bigfoot and the Yanks. As always, performers will encompass a range of styles from Appalachian to Irish, gospel, and more. Head to campus early over the weekend for free dances, jam sessions, and other workshops to be held in Ida Noyes Hall, 1212 E. 59th St. If you’re craving a behind-the-scenes look at the world of contemporary folk, The Folklore Society is still accepting volunteers to staff the festival. Mandel Hall, 1131 E. 57th St. February 14-16. See website for times. $10-$25, weekend pass and student/senior discounts available. Tickets online, by phone, or at Mandel Hall Box Office. (773)702-7300. uofcfolk.org (Rachel Schastok)

J. Dilla Day Dillo Day ain’t got nothing on Dilla Day. In honor of the tremendously influential James Dewitt Yancey, aka hip-hop artist J Dilla, The Shrine is holding a night of celebration and seriously sick beats on the 20. Since his death on February 10, 2006—three days after the release of what’s considered his magnum opus, the instrumental hip-hop album “Donuts”—Detriot-born Dilla’s legacy has only grown (those “J Dilla Changed My Life” shirts are around for a reason). A few Chicago artists will be around to share in the festivities: Norm Rockwell and Sean Doe are DJing, and Encyclopedia Brown, along with The Ol Days, will be performing. Now’s the time to dust off that “Donuts” LP: the Day of the Dilla draws nigh. The Shrine, 2109 S. Wabash Ave. Thursday, February 20. Doors open at 10pm. 21+. Free before midnight; after midnight $20. (312)753-5700. theshrinechicago.com (Cindy Dapogny)

Marquis Hill Blacktet Trumpeter Marquis Hill is a rising star on the national jazz scene and is playing in venues across Chicago such as Andy’s and the Green Mill; but his roots are in Chatham, where he grew up and learned drums as well as trumpet. He recently released his third album in three years, “The Poet,” which he recorded with his Blacktet. Touring with this same ensemble, consisting of Justin Thomas on vibes, Irving Pierce on sax, Joshua Ramos on bass, Makaya McCraven on drums, and Juan Pastor on percussion, he returns to the South Side with sets at the WHPK Jazz series at UofC’s I-House and at House of Bing. House of Bing, 6930 S South Shore Dr. Friday, February 14. 8pm and 10pm. International House, 1414 E 59th St. Saturday, February 22. 8pm. whpkjazz. org (Noah Kahrs)

DJ William Luck’s Burying Ground Gospel Showcase In 1919, Georgia-born Thomas Andrew Dorsey migrated to Chicago. Soon afterwards, he combined his knowledge of blues, jazz, and religious music into an innovative new genre that combined religious themes with new styles of music just beginning to emerge in the South at the time—this was the birth of gospel. Immerse yourself in this piece of music history for five straight hours on February 26th, when gospel and soul record collector William Luck returns to Maria’s for the first of two encore DJ sets after a successful gospel showcase last month. Luck’s collection features some of the bestknown artists, such as the Sensational Nightingales and the Staple Singers, as well as lesser-known independent groups. Like last time, Luck’s set promises to include tracks that span the development of gospel music from its earliest days as church choir music to its later borrowing from funk and R&B. “Respect Yourself ”—don’t miss it! <i> Maria’s Packaged Goods & Community Bar, 960 W. 31st St. February 26th. 9pm-2am. Free. Complimentary parking. (773)890-0588. www.community-bar.com.</i> (Rachel Schastok)

Weekly Jam Session with the Microcosmic Sound Orchestra “Music (vibration) has the power to transform matter” and “the goal of artistic expression should be to leave the listener in a higher state of being than prior to the experience.” Such are the beliefs of Sonic Healing Ministries, which has a weekly worship service in the form of a communal improv jam session at the Arts Incubator in Washington Park. Led by David Boykin, artist-in-residence at UofC’s Arts and Public Life initiative, the Microcosmic Sound Orchestra of Sonic Healing Ministries seeks to make music that impacts the well-being of audiences and performers alike, though there doesn’t have to be a distinction. Arts Incubator, 301 E Garfield Blvd (enter on Prairie Ave). Sundays 2pm-5pm. sonichealingministries.com (Noah Kahrs)

WHPK Rock Charts WHPK 88.5 FM is a nonprofit community radio station at the University of Chicago. Once a week the station’s music directors collect a book of playlist logs from their Rock-format DJs, tally up the plays of albums added within the last few months, and rank them according to popularity that week.

Compiled by Rachel Schastok and Charlie Rock Artist / Album / Record Label 1. Angel Olsen / Burn Your Fire For No Witness / Jagjaguwar 2. Trampoline Team / Velveteen Dream / Pelican Pow Wow 3. Neo Boys / Sooner or Later / K 4. Guardian Alien / Spiritual Emergency / Thrill Jockey 5. Xiu Xiu / Angel Guts / Polyvinyl 6. KhaoZ / I, Creator of Damnation / Mad Lion 7. Algebra Suicide / Feminine Squared / Dark Entries 8. The Memories / American Summer / Randy 9. Grand Magus / Triumph and Power / Nuclear Blast 10. The Traps / Boom Pow Awesome Wow / Castle Face 11. Teenager Lovers / Number One / Randy 12. Eat Skull / Where’d You Go / Volar 13. American Ruse / I Don’t Wanna / Sympathy 14. Willie Burns / s/t / The Triology Tapes 15. Clad in Darkness / Decathect / s/r

FEBRUARY 12, 2014 ¬ SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY 15

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¬ FEBRUARY 12, 2014