2,444 stories from chicagoreader.com
"It's an invitation," says Aaron Hughes, cocurator of "Remaking the Exceptional: Tea, Torture, and Reparations," an exhibition currently on display at the DePaul Art Museum. Marking the 20th…
Her name is Odesza. Charles Wong's bright red, 22-foot, 500-gallon mobile road pit comes from Texas, and so does the barbecue she smokes"at least in terms of method and material. But the fla…
Beginning with Napster and continuing through Spotify, the nemeses of independent record labels have been legion over the past few decades. The deaths of brick-and-mortar retail chains, incl…
It's been a long wait since Wovenhand's 2016 album, Star Treatment, though disciples of founder David Eugene Edwards were fed well by his rich and mysterious 2018 collaboration with Alexande…
Chicago postpunks Ne-Hi split in May 2019, and since then guitarist-singer Mikey Wells has expanded his palette of delightful pop hooks in two standout projects: Spun Out, which is indie dan…
Politics are an inherent part of punk and hardcore culture, but not even the most ardent fans like feeling preached to, especially by artists who seem more focused on their messaging than on…
Land Trust: Benefit for NEFOC embodies the spirit of mutual aid that guides many punk communities. When Bikini Kill's 2020 reunion tour was canceled, touring guitarist Erica Dawn Lyle and dr…
Chilean singer-songwriter, accordionist, and pianist Pascuala Ilabaca offers endlessly unpredictable sonic pleasures. On six albums and one EP, she builds upon a foundation of Andean folklor…
Photos by Dylan Barnedo Since its launch as a one-day festival in 2018, Lyrical Lemonade's Summer Smash has grown into a three-day extravaganza that can go toe-to-toe with nationally recogni…
Many ways to celebrate and honor Juneteenth this week, as well as other outdoor and indoor gatherings and events"check it out!
The post Juneteenth, Pride, and legacies appeared first on Chic…
On bad Doms, fluid pronouns, and identifying as bisexual
The post Renegotiating limits during a scene is never OK appeared first on Chicago Reader.
Airport (1970) introduced many tropes so closely associated with the 70s disaster genre: the reverence for"and subsequent destabilization of"then-new technologies, in this case the Boeing 70…
Editor's note: Coco Picard spoke to Chicago artist and School of the Art Institute of Chicago assistant professor Anna Martine Whitehead in early June. The comic above captures moments of th…
Given the myriad horrors American society faces, desensitization can be a survival mechanism as well as part of the problem. Numbness can easily turn to apathy when we're bombarded unrelenti…
In this issue, you'll find stories about trans creatives, LGBTQ+ community spaces, and drag performers; but you'll also find an investigation and interview about electronic monitoring in pol…
Celebrate how far we've come and brace yourself for the work to be done by enjoying libations and liberation at some of these Chicago gems: Berlin 954 W. Belmont berlinchicago.com Welcom…
Lots of behind-the-scenes news in Chicago theater, and some well-deserved plaudits to note as well this week! At the Tony Awards this past Sunday, longtime Chicago sound designer and compose…
Critics sometimes say that films like Running Man and Battle Royale implicate the viewer. When you watch them, you're supposed to recognize the ickiness of your own enjoyment of uber-violenc…
While there's never really a sense of true danger for our heroes, we get just enough of the range of CGI dinosaurs and their weird traits to keep the film entertaining.
The post Jurassic Wor…
The clash between Thompson's nervous widow and McCormack's confident sex worker incites a dialogue that reminds us that it's never too late to break out of our shells.
The post Good Luck to…
Charles has a mannequin head, rubber gloves for hands, and a washing-machine torso. But the rest of him is quite obviously human. His hodgepodge construction neatly describes the disjointedn…
Watching the 80s through the lenses of its superstars is its own glossy and compelling reward, but Freedom also depicts the carnage of the decade.
The post Freedom Uncut appeared first on Ch…
Los Bitchos are an LSD-laced sugar cube melting in your mouth. The London-based four-piece make tripped-out 70s-inspired cumbia that sounds like it belongs in the 1966 Czech film Daisies"VÄ…
As I lay in bed drenched in sweat, battling COVID, it came to me as in a fevered dream . . . The city council had overwhelmingly approved Mayor Lightfoot's idea to spend untold millions on a…
Like the rest of the world, Second City has been through its share of upheavals in the past two years. Longtime owner, CEO, and executive producer Andrew Alexander stepped down in June 2020 …
