Newcity Chicago March 2020

“You get a show or a movie you’re really Film “Nomad” dying to watch, and you end up staying up late at night, so we actually compete with sleep. And we’re winning!” Proud? Strident? Visionary? Cutthroat? Complacent, commonplace dystopian? Can’t we just take it one day at a time, one film at a time? That 2017 statement by Netflix CEO Reed The Quest For Hastings rings in a year in which the streaming Strangeness service’s spend on programming is expected to come close to $18 billion, after sinking Getting It Down about $15 billion of investor cash last year. One Story at a Time (The remaining theatrical movie studios— Disney, Universal, Paramount, Warner and By Ray Pride Sony-Columbia—reportedly spend under $10 billion in aggregate.) That’s a lot of stories. celluloid—it’s almost comforting to realize MARCH 2020 Newcity that every piece of digital media are simple A couple days after “Parasite”’s unprecedent- Other numbers danced as I leaned against impossible strings of numbers, lines and ed multiple Oscar win—a brightly berserk a shelf and hoped instead to eavesdrop on a lines and strings and strings of code, of comic thriller-political parable in the Korean conversation. Nope: Numbers. ones and zeroes, ones and zeroes, language—veteran industry observer Richard zeroes and ones. Rushfield wrote in his invaluable newsletter, John Landgraf, the longtime head of the FX The Ankler, “Hollywood’s been feeling the yoke Networks, each year pulls out a number of March marks a favorite festival of mine: of this new employer, come from nowhere, how many scripted series are produced in a more comforting is to approach movies, spending as much as everyone else combined; year in the United States, for multiple media, one at a time, especially under the cool eye but behind the checks this very unsettling including broadcast television and streaming of consistent programmers. Which brings us sense that this is not going to end well for services both large and small. to the twenty-third annual European Union anyone… But diminished, tarnished, humiliat- Film Festival at the Gene Siskel Film Center of ed though it is, we must never undervalue Last year? An unprecedented 532 scripted the School of the Art Institute, which, just as the lure of Oscar that has enslaved so many; series, a seven-percent year-to-year increase. much as other omnibus festivals around the generations who brought their fortunes to Holly- The number is expected to balloon further city, frustrates for the lack of time, to preview, wood have fallen hypnotized under his spell.” in 2020, “which to me is just bananas,” to review, or even to see during the event. Landgraf said recently. There’s only four weeks of screenings, for a Money chases money, but money chases total of forty-seven films, from twenty-seven perceived prestige. Knells of doom sound March marks the launch of the eleven- member nations and former member Great only hours after the supposed celebration investor-billion-dollar-sunk 7,000 episodes Britain, but still! (One-third of the selected of a supposedly proud industry: even the of ten-minute amuse-boxes from founder films were directed by women.) broadcast ratings fell. Eager new money Jeffrey Katzenberg and CEO Meg Whitman’s remains the only certainty in the film industry. company, called “Quibi” (Kwee-Bee). The The Siskel selection is daunting for scale, mobile-driven conceit sounds like an invitation scope and curatorial diligence. (And few of Numbers started to stutter in my head a to low-sweat smash-and-grab for well- them are driven by the kind of mega-corporate couple of weeks ago on a visit to Odd connected “content producers” more than urge for domination and sleep-deprivation of Obsession Movies, which is facing brisk a good time in your pocket. other modern media choices.) These are the headwinds of its own in keeping its 25,000- latter-day echoes of the kinds of movies I’ve plus archive of physical media of a century Another frighteningly large number floats watched and supported the duration of my of film available to the public. atop the stew: an estimate of the total number career. The films build upon the past of the of original series manifesting across Planet continent, the countries and the movies that Twenty-five thousand! Earth: 10,600 new series launched in fifty came before these: history is a river here, key television territories in 2019, including whether quiet or turbulent. It rushes onward, I’m holding onto my own library of disks, 4,600 fiction series. with or without your say-so. I’m always taken but an image from the shelves behind that aback by how many I want to see (and which counter on Milwaukee Avenue—not the Without even returning to the cinephilic have not been available to Chicago audiences shelves against walls and throughout two well for comparison points—see you later, before) even more than premier events like the rooms that bristle with the new, the old, the strange, the even stranger—was transfixing and alarming. Each of the movies is kept behind the counter in slim cases, and on shelves reaching nearly to the celling,trans- lucent thin cases run wall-to-wall as well. 51

“Take Me Somewhere Nice” Newcity MARCH 2020 FILM TOP 5 Chicago International Film Festival and according to John Waters, and also a those debut pictures that the career ballad-driven… musical? 1 Shy People. Chicago Film festival vagabonds gobble six or seven Society, Music Box. Andrei a day at festivals like Sundance and From France, “Sibyl” takes obsession Konchalovsky’s rarely seen 1987 SXSW and Toronto and Cannes and Berlin on the road as a female therapist who is gem, a masterful, unabashed and Tribeca to infinity. (To recurrent and shutting down her practice is drawn in melodrama set in a haunted near-certain disappointment, to be sure.) by an actress (Adèle Exarchopoulos), swamp, with Jill Clayburgh, But the hit-to-hit ratio of the EU Fest is who is in a triangle with her male co-star Barbara Hershey and Martha usually uncommonly high, and always and her female director. The narrative Plimpton. 35mm. March 30 reassures that the feature film narrative fractures, drawing comparison to the of the post-World War II era has kick, work of Alain Resnais. 2 The Twenty-Third Annual spark and life left in it. (None dare call it European Union Film “humanist.”) Not that smaller events Documentary and docu-fiction-trained Festival. Siskel. A tasty selection focusing on the other great national Pietro Marcello’s “Martin Eden” (Italy) of forty-seven films from cinemas, from Iran to Asia and beyond, thrilled a stripe of 2019 world festival- twenty-seven European Union don’t also tickle and thrill: this is simply goers with a bold adaptation of Jack member nations and, for one a smorgasbord that eager Chicago London’s semi-autobiographical novel, last time, self-exiled Great Britain. moviegoers ought to anticipate eagerly reveling in landscape and experimental each year. style. Also Italian: Abel Ferrara’s “Tomma- March 6-April 12 so,” with Willem Dafoe playing an Here are a few examples rushing anxiety-ridden, self-destructive, highly 3 The Whistlers. Music downriver on streams of high recommen- jealous filmmaker. Ferrara shoots Box. The great Romanian dation. Greek cinema is still going for the in the apartments and streets of Piazza deadpan artist Corneliu weird, even after the English-language Vittorio, his current home. The cast Porumboiu turns his hand to ascension of Yorgos Lanthimos (“Dog- includes figures from Ferrara’s own life: an international comic caper to tooth,” “The Favourite”), in “The Waiter,” neighbors, wife and daughter. captivating result. Opens March 27 which has been compared to Aki Kaurismäki’s drier-than-dry social A different sort of light burning bright 4 Saint Frances. Music Box. comedies as well as the rich history of resides in Claire Pijman’s “Living the Chicago indie film makes philanderers in films noir. Jim Jarmusch’s Light: Robby Müller,” a portrait-cum-life- good: SXSW standout from local “Stranger Than Paradise” gets the regularly lesson of the late Dutch magician of talent makes good and wreaks scheduled homage in Ena Sendijarevic’s light. Pijman doesn’t rely on images from tears as “issues” are heightened Netherlands-Bosnia and Herzegovina Müller’s effortlessly magisterial work in human relief. Opens March 20 production “Take Me Somewhere Nice,” across seventy pictures (“Paris, Texas,” working the charm in a semi-autobi- “Dead Man,” “The American Friend”), but 5 The 70mm Film Festival. ographical three-hander road movie takes advantage of her access to video Music Box. Get ‘em while traversing the way from Bosnia to Holland. diaries, home movies and Polaroids he they’re big: “Once Upon A Time... The vocabulary of Romanian filmmaking left behind when he died in 2018. The In Hollywood,” “West Side Story,” grows with Radu Dragomir’s “Mo,” a guitar-driven score is by Jim Jarmusch “2001: A Space Odyssey,” “The Big thriller dipping into “Me Too” territory. and Carter Logan. Werner Herzog drops Trail,” “Last Action Hero,” “Roma,” From Austria, documentary master in, too, with “Nomad: In the Footsteps “Lifeforce,” “The Untouchables,” visualist Nikolaus Geyrhalter (“Our Daily of Bruce Chatwin,” an elegy tracing his “Khartoum,” “Interstellar,” “Tron” Bread”) returns with “Earth,” taking in the intense friendship with the late memoirist and “Hello, Dolly!” March 5-19 monumental scope of seven construction and fabulist who shared Herzog’s sites around the world, from marble world-spanning wanderlust and “quest 52 mines to radioactive waste dumps. The for strangeness.” Dardenne brothers are on hand, too, with “Young Ahmed,” their study of a But quest no more: pick your own thirteen-year-old Belgian Muslim boy who strangeness from this vital pile. It doesn’t becomes radicalized. Bruno Dumont is even try to compete with Netflix. on hand, too, expanding on his “Jean- nette: The Childhood of Joan of Arc” with Full schedule at siskelfilmcenter.org, “Jeanne,” a “piously poisonous sequel,” in both listings and PDF format.

Live at The Book Cellar Book Launch Tracey S. Phillips “A Comedian and An Activist “Best Kept Secrets” Walk Into a Bar” in conversation with March 5, 6pm at Second City Layne Fargo, “Temper” March 19, 7pm Jeff Fleischer Murder and “Votes of Confidence: Mayhem Festival A Young Person’s Guide to American Elections” March 21, 9am March 12, 7pm at Roosevelt University The Kates! Crystal Cestar March 13 and March 28, 7pm “Super Adjacent” Book Launch March 21, 6pm David Barber Lew Bryson “Secret History: Poems” March 14, 7pm “Whiskey Master Class” March 24, 6pm Essay Fiesta! Transgender Day of March 16, 7pm Visibility Local Author Night featuring Robin Carnilius, “Camp Cutlery” featuring Carlene O’Connor, March 30, 7pm Annelise Ryan, Billy Lombardo, Peter Belmonte and Dan Helpingstine March 18, 7pm Go to our website for event details, book clubs and more! Your Independent Book Store in Lincoln Square! 4736-38 N. Lincoln Avenue, Chicago 773.293.2665 • bookcellarinc.com

Lit Photo: Jay Photography What was your original idea for sequencing the book? My original idea for sequencing was based on Nas’ “Illmatic.” I wanted nine chapters. They all have their own identity. Strong, short, impactful, sweet. I started off with the NFL, then I think I went to LeBron, then I went into something else, and I got to Kaepernick. There’s a chapter called “Buoyancy Matters.” That was actually the introduction to the book. It was about how sports could take on a life of its own with race and power embedded in it. After I turned it in, the editor flipped it around, and was like, “We would like this to go someplace else. We’d like for you to talk more about yourself up top,” because in the book I never talk about myself at all because I don’t want the book to be about me. I’m glad you did, though. Your writing is emblematic of a lot of things that we’re not seeing in hip-hop or sports writing right now, and you have a longer view of both because you’ve been watching it all for some time. You’re a writer, so you understand what your view is. You see what your contribution is, and you try to stay in that lane without doing too many things. This is the way I see it, and in my mind, I’m trying to do the book version of “Illmatic.” So, I’m trying to explain that with the sequence, I wasn’t so concerned about the sequence as much as I was working to keep it strong and keep it short. You know, once again, with “Illmatic,” you could flip those songs any way you want to and the album would still stand strong. It builds a crescendo. Exactly. That’s kind of where my mind was in terms of the sequencing of the book. I wanted it to be strong. I wanted the NFL to be first because the NFL is so big, strong and prevalent. It’s a good jump-off point. Newcity MARCH 2020 Respect Scoop Jackson walks into Dusek’s in Right, it’s what a lot of people are talking the Game Pilsen as The Ramones’ “Blitzkrieg Bop” riff about in terms of the NFL. I’m excited into the opening chant of “Hey! Ho! Let’s go!” because when I first met you, you were An Interview with pumps out of the bar’s speakers. He chimes doing more about hip-hop and pop Scoop Jackson About in unison with the chant with a little smirk as culture. You were just starting SLAM His Book “The Game Is he dumps his backpack next to the table. magazine with your colleagues there. Scoop’s riff makes sense because that chant Since it’s been more than twenty years Not A Game” still barrels through some sporting events, since your last book “The Darkside,” which he knows well as one of the voices what jumpstarted this new book after By Tara Betts behind SLAM and XXL magazines and as a so many years as a commentator? writer and commentator at ESPN, especially now that his latest book “The Game Is Not a You were with us when we started SLAM, so Game: The Power, Protest and Politics of you saw the early days. We had no idea what American Sports” discusses how sports are a it was going to become. We just thought we crucible for issues of race, gender and wealth. had a good space to do good work. We were grinding, trying to get it done. It wasn’t a 54

big-time magazine, but we knew it had The observation can be as simple as LIT TOP 5 potential. It was our job to give it the best that, but to say it in analogies with life that we could. It took on a life of its characters we know? That’s clever. 1 Deep Dish: A Quarterly own, and SLAM really changed all our Reading of Sci-Fi + Fantasy lives for those of us who were involved in That’s a part of the creativity. You try + Speculative Writers. Volumes that publication. I took it from there, and something creative instead of streamlining Bookcafe. A quarterly reading the things that I’ve been able to do since your self-conscious. You also have to look featuring Sue Burke, Dawn then—doing XXL [magazine], dealing with at what’s not being done. Who has not Bonanno, Steven Silver, Evan ESPN for the last fifteen years. That said this? Like LaVar Ball is basically Steuber, Laura Kat Young and changes you. From where we come from, Richard Williams, basically Earl Woods, Mary Anne Mohanraj, author of I’m really one of the few people who has but he’s also Mouse in “Devil in a Blue “A Feast of Serendib: Recipes from the background that I have. I didn’t come Dress.” You try to put those things Sri Lanka.” March 14 from a daily newspaper or a major outlet together. So, it’s not about you. It’s about or this, that and the other. I’m like the the best way to tell a story so people say 2 Author Conversation: playground kid who snuck into the NBA, “Damn, I didn’t think about it that way, and Cathy Park Hong and Eula and you don’t belong in the NBA and you now that makes sense to me. Oh yeah, Biss. Women & Children First. are still trying to prove that you belong in his ass is Mouse.” Poet and essayist Cathy Park Hong the NBA, and they’re like “Naw, there’s discusses “Minor Feelings: An nobody like you. We’re gonna give you a You’re writing about athletes who Asian American Reckoning,” a chance ’cause we’re trying to be fair.” are not only objectified and dehuman- blend of memoir and cultural ized, they’re commodified. So, was criticism, with Eula Biss. March 19 It’s a shame because we need more that in the back of your brain as you playground kids telling those stories. were writing these pieces? 3 “Lifting As They Climbed” Book Talk and Tour. Illinois Exactly, but you need to learn how to Not necessarily, when I’m writing about Institute of Technology. Author MARCH 2020 Newcity navigate and function in those spaces sports, athletes or entertainers, the view is Essence McDowell talks about because if you fuck up and fail, then ain’t from the other side looking in. In the intro, this book and leads a tour of South no more playground kids gonna get in. I use a quote from Odell Beckham Jr. He Side landmarks discussed in the said “I’m a zoo animal.” When he said that book. March 21 So, there’s a responsibility that comes on “The Shop,” I’ve always used that as a with my fifteen years at ESPN and trying prism because I think that’s how America 4 “The Sea Came Up & to get in, so I say when you get to this looks at athletes, especially black athletes. Drowned.” Cultivate Urban book, all of those learned experiences You’re here to entertain. You know, Rainforest & Gallery, Evanston. came with me, when you get to this point. dancing, playing, shut up and dribble, do Rachel Jamison Webster releases And the fact that between the time of your thing. So, that line of thinking didn’t her latest poetry collection as part “The Darkside” and this, I did do the book come with a book. That’s not anything of the United Nations World Water “Sole Provider.” new, I’ve always looked at it this way, Day. March 22 because they’ve always played it that way. Yes, the sneaker books. 5 Poetry off the Shelf: A You cite people in a non-dry way. CantoMundo Reading. Right, which is a whole other cultural Some people would take that Poetry Foundation. CantoMundo experience that took on a life of its own information and leave you thinking celebrates its ten-year anniversary like SLAM did. We had no idea that “What did they just say?” But you with a reading featuring Julian “Sole Provider” was going to take on the integrate some of yourself into this. Randall, Deborah Paredez and life that it did. It became like the bible, There’s the moment in the Kaepernick Mónica de la Torre. March 31 and many people were like that was the essay where you’re talking to your change in sneaker culture. Sneaker wife and son and you ask her culture was an underground thing until “What’s worse—interracial dating that book came out, and now, it’s gone or not voting?” And she says “Not from subculture to culture and many voting.” [laughter] And I hear that people point to that book. So, for me, conversation. That’s a good reason I’ve been directly attached to two entities to have you in the introduction of the in print that basically changed the book, even though it’s a larger story landscape of publishing and culture. where you want to be objective and That’s the difference of then and now. lay out an argument. It has an impact Being a part of that and bringing those on you, too. experiences to the table with me because that’s all a part of the journey. It does. I don’t try to separate myself, and we go through a lot of experiences I kept thinking about the essay that a lot of writers don’t feel comfortable about LaVar Ball and you start enough to connect their readers to. describing him like characters you As writers, we tend to elevate ourselves would see in the neighborhood, and or we let the outside world elevate us, it’s not really the piece, but it offers as if we’re something special. Teachers some humor and gives a compelling and doctors go through the same thing. lead-in to the piece. People in certain professions feel like they’re above a lot of this, and writing The whole thing was to humanize him. has had such a great impact on society. We created this dude like he’s an alien I think people who write think they’re or some unicorn. This is your uncle. special, but you stay at your best if you You know if they put your crazy ass stay connected to the people that you uncle on TV, that would be it. are writing for. 55

They keep you humble. You call sports to the mat in this Every woman in there has become an owner book. As a woman, I kept thinking of a football team because they inherited it Life will humble you. I’ve always tried to about your essay “#ThemToo.” from their husbands. respect the game and not just look at it like It’s not just about verbal abuse this is what I’ve done. This is what I’ve or sexual assault. It’s also about It’s not even father to daughter. contributed to the game as a storyteller, a under-recognizing women in sports. writer. You look at the game and you’re just I looked at other pieces in the book No. So, when you put out the information a small piece, and you’re never going to be differently because then we think about that there are nine female owners, that’s by bigger than this game, so what are you doing masculinity through the lens of athletics. default. And then put the Sports Illustrated to contribute and advance the game? It keeps How does that need to change? thing in there, and the pay inequality in there, you grounded and humble. Tara, you know, it’s supposed to make you look at the whole every religion started with writing or a person Exactly. I tried to be open and honest landscape differently. The way Nick Saban speaking, and the word started with a book. about it and even put myself in there. responded to Maria Taylor on the sidelines. If you look at the vastness of writing, you’re I can talk all the shit I want to about standing He snapped on her. He would’ve never done never going to be bigger than starting religions. up for women in sports, but I’m not flawless. that to a dude, or like when Muffet McGraw I’m second-class at my own thing. Let’s went on a justified rant about how inequality What else do you want to write about? look at all the layers. It’s not just masculinity. works on her level, even while winning. It’s It’s borderline toxic masculinity when you’re looked at as “look at how emotional she is.” A good friend of mine who’s an artist out in dealing with how male culture on a whole No, she has a valid fucking point. Because L.A., we said long ago that we need to do a has treated, looked at, and disrespected she’s a woman, you don’t even want to hear it. book together. As soon as I finished this, I women when it comes to athletics. I also brought up The New York Times. reached out to Moses Ball and I came up with It appears in so many places. In the whole They had one woman who had the shortest the concept to do a children’s book about Sports Illustrated thing, they’ve been doing editorship in the history of The New York looking at sports and telling kids that they this for seventy years. Well, they just gave Times, and there hasn’t been one since. can still be involved in sports while looking Megan Rapinoe and Serena Williams at everything surrounding it. We think we’re athlete of the year, but every time they’ve Go to lit.com for an extended version of gonna call it “Bigger Than the Ball.” The things done a female athlete of the year, it was a this interview. Jackson talks about tthe connected to this basketball are more than just shared award. It wasn’t a solo award. progression from his earlier publications playing the game. You can be Virgil Abloh and I wasn’t even aware of that until I did the (“The Last Black Mecca: Hip Hop,” “The be your own designer. We’re not telling them, research. Let’s go to the money. How many Darkside” and “Sole Provider”) to his latest don’t have a life with this ball, but look at all of them are women team owners in football? book, the dominance of women athletes like the things connected to this ball that they’re But wait, how many of them have been Steffi Graff, Cynthia Cooper and Leila Ali, not telling you about. allowed to step to the table on their own? Kobe Bryant and redefining masculinity. Newcity MARCH 2020 56

Music Still Nothing It’s been six years since Sinéad O’Connor (though she’s kept her stage name intact). In an Compares last toured North America—a small eternity appearance on Ireland’s “The Late Late Show” in the music business. Her series of concerts to kick off the tour, O’Connor wore a hijab and Sinéad O’Connor’s has been unofficially billed in Europe, where performed her seminal 1990 hit, the Prince- Rebirth and Return it launched in January, as a “comeback tour.” penned “Nothing Compares 2 U.” Her voice In Chicago alone, she plays three dates (March remains an astonishing instrument—still the By Robert Rodi 14 through 16—all sold out) at City Winery fierce, incantatory, indelibly Celtic keening that (1200 West Randolph). stopped traffic in 1987, the year she released her stunning debut, “The Lion and the Cobra.” MARCH 2020 Newcity This kind of large-scale event is usually tied But the revelatory thing about her “Late Late to a new album, or a retrospective collection, Show” performance is that for a twenty- or even a biography; O’Connor reportedly has first-century audience, her Muslim headwear plans to release new music (a book, too), but is every bit as startling as her shaved scalp there isn’t anything on sale, or even announced was thirty-two years ago. yet. Which doesn’t necessarily mean the singer-songwriter hasn’t got something to Those with long memories may scoff at talk about. In fact, if there’s one constant in O’Connor’s conversion. They’ll recall the kinetic O’Connor’s wide-ranging career, it’s that she way she’s boomeranged across the spiritual always has something to say—and it’s often spectrum. She started her career as a passion- something a lot of people don’t want to hear. ate denouncer of the Catholic Church, and sparked her first international scandal by The news is that she’s converted to Islam, tearing up a photo of Pope John Paul II during and has changed her name to Shuhada Davitt a guest spot on “Saturday Night Live.” Jaws 57

Newcity MARCH 2020 MUSIC TOP 5 dropped a few years later when she One set of lyrics goes, “You know I was ordained as a priest by the Irish love to make music / But my head got 1 Jonathan Richman. Orthodox Catholic and Apostolic wrecked by the business … I became Constellation. The Modern Lovers Church, a splinter organization the stranger no one sees / Cut glass founder was a midwife to New Wave, unaffiliated with Rome. As recently as I’ve crawled upon my knees.” but in his subsequent, and long solo 2014, O’Connor appeared in clerical career, he’s become a worldly, wry collar and crucifix in her video for the The album was well-received and tunesmith and elder statesman of the single “8 Good Reasons.” even charted, hitting number eighty- singer-songwriter set. March 27 & 28 eight on the Top 100. All the same, Her reemergence as a Muslim may a period of silence and obscurity 2 Gregory Poter and Ledisi. seem an equally whiplash move, ensued, broken in 2017 when Chicago Theatre. The reigning although she describes it as “the O’Connor posted a twelve-minute king of jazz baritones and the radiant natural conclusion of any intelligent video on Facebook, which she R&B superstar twin their golden pipes theologian’s journey.” Making such a recorded in a hotel room in New for a limited ten-city tour. Fortunately, sweeping pronouncement on behalf Jersey. Addressing the camera directly, Chicago makes the cut. March 27 of a wide swath of people beyond the clearly distraught singer divulges herself is typical of O’Connor’s that she’s feeling suicidal. It’s difficult 3 The Tallest Man on Earth. willingness to speak what’s on her to watch—and, in fact, I haven’t Old Town School of Folk Music. mind, and to hell with the conse- viewed it in full, out of respect for the Swedish folk-rocker Kristian Matsson quences. A more incendiary example dignity of someone suffering mental had a prolific 2019, marked by a new is the tweet in which she declared, tumult, if not mental illness. She was album (“I Love You. It’s a Fever Dream”) “I never wanna spend time with white subsequently hospitalized, and and a beguiling NPR Tiny Desk concert. people again (if that’s what non-mus- improved with treatment and therapy; With this tour, his 2020 looks to be lims are called). Not for one moment, but I remember at the time thinking equally rewarding. March 11-14 for any reason. They are disgusting.” that the demons that assailed her She later apologized, claiming to in that hotel room would, in the 4 Lady Lamb. City Winery. have been “angry and unwell.” ordinary course of her life, have been Aly Spaltro brings her dealt with through her music. O’Con- singer-songwriter persona to town, Like many who love her music, nor is part of a community of creators so we can hear firsthand the poetic I forgive her habit of burning bridges, for whom making art is literally a insights and dazzling wordplay of her if only because she always burns matter of survival. There are few songs. She’s turning out to be a them before she’s made it all the enough of them on the scene in these spiritual heir to Leonard Cohen. way across. Any genuine artist puts music-as-corporate-product times, self-care at the bottom of her list of and we shouldn’t take them for March 17 priorities, and O’Connor has been granted; they have a great deal to absolutely reckless in her quest for teach us—even though we hope, 5 Tindersticks. Thalia Hall. enlightenment and fulfillment. Unlike for her sake, that Islam is the last The venerable British band other singers who famously lived stop on O’Connor’s train. continues to raise the artistic bar. self-immolating lives (Garland, Piaf, Tindersticks are in town to tour their Holliday, Joplin, Winehouse), O’Con- Since she hasn’t released any new latest, most unabashedly romantic nor’s tribulations aren’t related to music, O’Connor’s City Winery (and sonically sensuous) album to date, drugs, booze and men. Hers are performances will mine her extensive “No Treasure But Hope.” March 30 the result of headlong plunges into back catalogue. Reviews of her ideological and political torrents. European dates have praised a 58 To find an analogue, you’d have to searingly defiant reading of “Queen go back to the nineteenth century. of Denmark,” the John Grant song To my mind, there’s something from her 2012 album, “How About Byronesque about her. I Be Me (And You Be You),” as well as “Hold Back the Night” from 2000’s Compare this to her near contempo- “Faith and Courage.” But perhaps rary, Madonna, who, like O’Connor understandably, the concerts have has a reputation for continual been heaviest on material from her reinvention. But from Material Girl to spectacularly successful second Madame X, Madge’s incarnations album, “I Do Not Want What I Haven’t are marketing brands; her overriding Got” (1990), with O’Connor revisiting philosophical principle is the bottom tunes like “Black Boys On Mopeds” line. O’Connor’s reinventions are and “The Emperor’s New Clothes.” rebirths, in that they’re messy, noisy, That the singer can reinhabit those painful and involve the emergence early hits today, in her fifties, and of an unsteady new self. This has on the far side of a grueling vision always been the key to her art, and quest that all but reordered her at the darkest period of her life followed the cellular level, is a triumph. what seems to have been an attempt to suppress the nakedly confessional As for the inevitable encore of that tone of her work. “I’m Not Bossy, career-making number-one hit: I’m The Boss,” her 2014 release, was if there’s anything more healing at publicized as a concept album, with this particular cultural moment than each song reflecting a facet of the life a woman in a hijab wailing the of a single, invented character. This eros-drenched lyrics of Prince Rogers was a bizarre marketing ploy, given Nelson, please point me in its that the character in question sure as direction. I would like to shake hell sounded like Sinéad O’Connor. their hand.

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Stage Sir Andrew Davis will step down from his post as Lyric Opera’s music director at the end of next season. He will be succeeded by Enrique Mazzola /Photo: Kyle Flubacker Renewal Over Replication Séguin, music director for the Metropolitan Opera, was originally slated to seize the stick A Passing of the Baton at Lyric Opera during the 2020-2021 season but was moved into the post for the 2018-2019 season. He is By Aaron Hunt forty-four. Currently the music director of the Paris Opera, forty-six-year-old Philippe Jordan Newcity MARCH 2020 “Sir Andrew is not retiring!” insisted The Pew Research Center’s data for 2017 will become music director at the Vienna State Lyric Opera’s general director, president shows baby boomers supplying twenty-five Opera in the 2020-2021 season. Eun Sun Kim and CEO Anthony Freud. percent of the workforce, with fifty-six-million (the only woman scheduled to assume such a millennials (born between 1981 and 1996) prestigious post with one of the world’s major “I decided it’s time to slow down,” Sir either employed or looking for work, their ranks opera houses) becomes music director at the Andrew intoned. overtaking the Gen X-ers (born between San Francisco Opera in August 2021. She is 1965 and 1980) in 2016, who had fallen to forty. Balancing the class curve, thirty-seven- This past year was a magical one for some supplying one-third of the country’s labor force. year-old millennial Robin Ticciati has been 47.8 million U.S. citizens aged sixty-five and music director at Glyndebourne since 2014. up: they retired. The generation of baby While high-tech industries may rule the world, boomers (born between 1946 and 1964) is the dollars generated by global entertainment In most cases, the shoulders, elbows and retiring at a rate of 10,000 per day. While this and media industries soar into the trillions. wrists hold out longer than operatic vocal sounds all goldfish and kitty-cat tails at first Art is many things, but is just as surely a cords, meaning that boomer maestros are hearing, there are other angles to the story. business as healthcare. Employment trends still well represented at the world’s top houses. Willis Towers Watson, a risk-management we see in industry will likely play out every- Patrick Summers has been both the music and insurance brokerage company, produced where dollars land in corporate accounts. and artistic director of Houston Grand Opera a survey in 2018 which reported that nearly And leading opera houses of the world are since 2011 and the music director since 1998. two-thirds of companies reviewed said they seeing a change in management at the top. At fifty-six, Summers is barely a boomer. expect significant to moderate challenges Antonio Pappano has been music director at from late retirements. How they will replace Gen-X conductors are stepping into top the Royal Opera, Covent Garden since 1992 the wealth of knowledge that is walking out positions at some of the world’s most and is sixty. Sixty-seven-year-old Riccardo their doors on the way to Florida? important opera companies. Yannick Nézet- Chailly has been the music director at La Scala since January 2017. At seventy-six, Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Sir Andrew Davis is senior among world-class operatic music directors. 60

Enrique Mazzola and Sir Andrew Davis STAGE TOP 5 /Photo: Kyle Flubacker 1 Day of Absence. Congo Square It was announced at the beginning “The Marriage of Figaro.” He’s Theatre. Douglas Turner Ward’s 1965 MARCH 2020 Newcity of the 2019-2020 season that conducted a wide variety of satirical fantasy recounts the uproarious Sir Andrew would step down repertoire ranging from his first emergencies that occur when a Southern from his post at the close of the Wagner “Ring Cycle” here—with his town is faced with the sudden and 2020-2021 season. Still a Gen X-er second in Chicago coming at the inexplicable disappearance of all its black at fifty-one, Enrique Mazzola is end of this season—to Michael and brown citizens. Opens March 2 music director designate. For the Tippett’s “The Midsummer Marriage.” moment, the city that is second to 2 Her Honor Jane Byrne. none enjoys two world-class Freud sums up Davis’ astounding Lookingglass Theatre Company. operatic music directors. Lyric tenure: “In those thirty-plus In a world premiere written and directed by years, he has conducted 690 Lookingglass ensemble member J. Nicole Maestro Mazzola is stepping into performances of sixty operas by Brooks, the city’s first woman mayor moves a pair of the world’s biggest opera twenty-one different composers into Cabrini-Green where raw truths will be shoes. Sir Andrew Davis CBE at Lyric, plus ten concerts.” Davis exposed as Chicago residents and politics stepped down from the position of took his time to consider leaving collide. Opens March 7 chief conductor of the Melbourne his post. Freud persuaded him to Symphony Orchestra at the end of remain on an additional year to 3 Fast Company. Jackalope Theatre. last year and is conductor laureate ease the transition. Newly reappointed artistic director of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra Kaiser Ahmed directs the local premiere of and the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Where shall we find another? I a thriller about a family of gifted grifters who His first major post was associate asked Freud how one goes about put together the score of the decade. But conductor for the BBC Scottish searching for a new music director will they all get in on the action or will only Symphony Orchestra, beginning in for such an important and polished one walk away with the whole pot? Opens 1970. He assumed the role of music machine as Lyric Opera of Chicago. March 10 director of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in 1975. In 1988, he took “I have to tell you that Andrew 4 Hundred Days. Kokandy the coveted position of music was very much a partner with me Productions. An uncensored, director at Glyndebourne and in in analyzing the qualities of an exhilarating and heartrending true story 2000 became music director and excellent music director for Lyric about embracing uncertainty, taking a principal conductor at Lyric, having Opera, and in talking about possible leap and loving as if you only had a made his debut here in 1987 with candidates,” says Freud. hundred days to live, with music and lyrics by beloved band The Bengsons. Opens March 13 5 My Dear Hussein. Silk Road Rising and Momentary Theatre. A surrealistic tale of a four-year-old Iranian girl unfolds amidst the carnage of the Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s as lines between playful fantasy and brutal warfare gradually blur. Opens March 22 61

This is no doubt as unusual in the world of Mazzola made his Lyric debut in the 2016- of Lyric Opera is to help everyone in this city classical music as it is in industry: one day 2017 season with “Lucia di Lammermoor” to see how opera can adjust their thinking.” the manager gives notice and, if they aren’t and returned for “I Puritani” in the 2017-2018 shown the door immediately, stays on for an season. Born in Barcelona and trained in In the transitional season Davis will conduct agreed-upon period. On the fated day, the Italy at the Milan Conservatory, Mazzola has Sir George Benjamin’s “Lessons in Love and revolving door of the business swings and, served as principal guest conductor at Violence” (Lyric co-commission and co-pro- as the outgoing manager is exiting, the new Deutsche Oper Berlin and artistic and music duction), Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro” manager wings through the other side. director at the Paris-based Orchestre national (the opera with which he made his Lyric debut) Never the twain meet. d’Île-de-France, which explains homes in and Stravinsky’s “The Rake’s Progress” (one Paris and Berlin. His Metropolitan Opera of his favorites). Mazzola will continue his Freud and Davis assembled a long list of debut came in the 2015-2016 season, with exploration of the early works of Verdi with must-haves that included the need for a “L’elisir d’amore.” “Attila” and invite us to open our minds with world-class conductor with an international Missy Mazzoli’s “Proving Up.” The Gram- reputation, someone with excellent opera Wielding a repertoire that ranges from my-nominated Mazzoli has been called “one credentials and a vast knowledge of opera Bellini to world premieres, Mazzola has a of the more consistently inventive, surprising history and repertoire and the ability to create special affinity for bel canto opera, the early composers now working in New York” by rapport with the orchestra, chorus and, of operas of Verdi and contemporary opera. the New York Times. course, the management, Freud being the He began his cycle of exploration of less- paramount connector for the vast enterprise known Verdi operas at Lyric this fall with Davis and Freud have done their due diligence that is Lyric Opera. Paying special attention “Luisa Miller.” Next season, Lyric’s audiences and the perfect crown prince has been to guest conductors who had worked at Lyric will have the opportunity to see Mazzola procured. But what about that other little thing: over the past decade gave Davis and Freud on the podium for his first contemporary the “It” factor? That spark of personality that the opportunity to view the potential candi- opera in his new home of Chicago. breeds charisma and creates currents of dates through a kind of crucible: what did connection? We will miss Sir Andrew’s rich the orchestra say about them? The chorus? Asked about his connection to new works, voice pouring out the speakers before each The press? Freud was also understandably Mazzola says, “When we do opera, it is Lyric performance, admonishing us to turn off interested in finding someone who would a representation, it is not the real world. all our electronic devices. In contrast, social commit to being in Chicago a majority of Contemporary opera is our way to make media-darling Mazzola’s passionate, twinkling the time, embracing the city and its citizens. the audience aware of contemporary personality flashes from those very instruments Conversing with Enrique Mazzola during problems and to open our minds to see worldwide. I asked Freud about the change in his conducting jobs at Lyric and absorbing possible solutions to those problems. This is personality on the podium. His unanswerable his musical and interpersonal ethics helped what we artists do every day and this is how argument: “Why try to replicate what cannot Freud see that Mazzola checked all the boxes. we succeed. My intention as music director be replicated?” Newcity MARCH 2020 62

No Martins, “Untitled” 2020 Courtesy: Mariane Ibrahim. eviews

Review Art bold blues and bright red hues are defined in a large-scale portrait, inviting How Fine Are You? direct symbols of the landscape pre- us into the moment. A Review of Candida Alvarez at Monique Meloche and post-Hurricane Maria, the richness “Estoy Bien” questions the viewer rather Chicago artist Candida Alvarez’s of the colors speaking to the tragedy “Estoy Bien” is her first exhibition at and beauty that exists in one moment. than tells; the nature of the space, Monique Meloche. The series of new the images, the title interrogates the abstract paintings is displayed in The proximity between each painting standalone aluminum frames arranged viewer’s state of “fine” and redefines the on the gallery floor, exploring the brings the spectator into a world relationship between color, light and perspective that we use throughout our architectural elements. The proofs adorned with texture, emotion, used for the exhibition originated from day-to-day life. (Caira Moreira-Brown) the 2017 Chicago Riverwalk “Year of intimacy. The mesh nature of each Public Art” program. painting allows us to see almost every The short but strong title speaks of both the passing of Alvarez’s father corner of the gallery. The transparency “Estoy Bien” is on view at Monique and the destruction Hurricane Maria in the material is similar to the social brought to Puerto Rico, where her Meloche, 451 North Paulina, parents originated. The imagery is a issues that Alvarez depicts. She makes through March 21. it clear that the social and economic issues in Puerto Rico are as relevant A Multiplicity of Narratives A Review of The discovery and apparent as the materials she of what it means to be Brazilian integrates into this show. at Mariane Ibrahim The images create their own spaces, taking life beyond the walls of the gallery, The newest exhibition at Mariane Ibrahim explores tropes of racial identity Alvarez transports you to her Puerto Rico, seeing through her eyes but with and the stories we tell ourselves. Curated by Helio Menezes, “The question and curiosity. The scenery depicted originates from ordinary events discovery of what it means to be Brazilian” is a group exhibition of psychological works by black Brazilian artists Jaime Lauriano, No Martins, Aline Motta, Éder Oliveira and Tiago Sant’Ana. The exhibition opens the doors to the historic racial division in Brazil and how it has influenced the present generation, the title echoing James Baldwin’s 1959 article, “The discovery of what it means to be an American.” The big question in this exhibition is how has Brazil’s internal racial conflict, and external image to America, influenced its citizens, specifi- cally those of African descent. Candida Alvarez, “Estoy Bien,” Walking into the space the works 2020/Courtesy of artist and surround you; the viewer must continu- Monique Meloche Gallery, ally take in multiple dialogues at once due to the close proximity of each Chicago/Photo: RCH Photography piece. The first piece is a large-scale acrylic painting by Martins, of a young, Newcity MARCH 2020 direct result of the world around Alvarez, that were nonetheless pivotal to the brown man looking off into the main creating a fantasy-like state flowing artist. Your attention is entrapped in the gallery area. The scale of the painting between reality and euphoria.Hovering normalcy of a familiar place; the images swallows the viewer, yet the details in above the ground, each image elevates are similar to the ones on the news, his facial expression create curiosity the viewer from conventional gallery of places often overlooked. The visual of thought, reason and space. Martins’ walks; the duality of life and thought is experiences that we take for granted attention to emotional detail illuminates transparent in the dual-sided paintings. are capitalized on throughout “Estoy the daily woes of Afro-Brazilians, and Bien”; similar to the title, the word “fine” the emotional weight that comes along The light that comes through the PVC is indicative of outsiders looking in, with racial exclusion. mesh material the artist uses as a canvas fine, until further context is given. Our enhances the two-dimensional nature view on not only Alvarez’s work but Using cotton, black Pemba fabric and of the images, creating strong, intricate worldly issues that often don’t have an charcoal, Lauriano asks viewers to peel shadows and highlights and making the impact on us directly is questioned. In off a layer of the power structure that space fluid. The mesh material breaks her artistic process, the artist uses her has created the spaces we occupy. the traditional boundaries of paintings. iPhone to capture details, similar to These places, spaces and names, The bold use of color is direct and how many of us capture moments often taken for granted due to historical purposeful, drawing the viewer closer, that we will not get back. A perspective norms, are called into question. and recalls Puerto Rican imagery. The that we so often take for granted is Sugar cane, often found in Southern Brazil, has long been a staple in the local economy. Sant’Ana dives deeper into the Brazilian industry that contrib- utes to more than eighty percent of sugar produced worldwide and looks at the working implications that it 64

places Afro-Brazilians in. Images like me to leave. I’d also throw my sense of his parents’ absences, the Reviews “Sugar Shoes” (2018) are filled with frenemy a birthday party for the poverty and violence that he witnesses tension as struggle and work ethic opportunity to show off my crystal and experiences, and the rants of create an emotional environment. and wallpaper game. Paul and his grandmother. Each digital image captured by Motta is Mart Crowley’s 1968 play, a glimpse All of those concerns, atop the normal MARCH 2020 Newcity a reflection on the subject. Each male into the personal lives of six gay men dilemmas that boys encounter with and female she photographs seem to via a birthday party, was largely bullies, first sexual encounters, basket- reflect on their own image, their voice. sensational when it premiered and ball tryouts, and trying to figure out Motta touches on the multitude of equally welcome in its recent fiftieth- one’s own ambitions, render a portrait voices that exist in Afro-Brazilian culture anniversary remount on Broadway. of an introverted writer who has vivid but also on how their stories are often It contextualizes how oppression romantic dreams but has difficulties reimagined. In this portrayal, each festers in the human heart, whether articulating how he deals with pressures person recreates what their existence that oppression emerges as self-harm, from the outside world. as people of a larger society means. in depreciation or drink, in our relation- ships with one another or the ways A major turn in Claude’s life takes place At the back of the gallery hang two in which we interact with the world. when another neighborhood boy dies large-scale paintings, placed side-by- In the case of “Boys,” each of the men under mysterious circumstances at the side, of two Brazilian men. One oil deals with society in their own way. hands of police, and a clash with “The painting, depicted in shades of red, And, just as we sometimes do offstage, RedBelters”—a group of kids led by has the subject looking down, while it’s the ones we love most that we can Big Columbus, a neighborhood dealer the painting next to it has the subject hurt the worst. who aspires to fashion himself after breaking the fourth wall. One image Fred Hampton. When the RedBelters captures the vulnerability of us as Carrying the brunt of that emotional collide with the police, riots overtake humans, taking away racial implications labor are Denzel Tsopnang and William South Shore and Claude’s crush, young and reflecting on the core, while the Marquez as Bernard and Emory. These neighbor Janice, is almost caught in the other, in grayscale, shows the male’s two try their best to keep the party riots. It isn’t until the melee subsides face completely pixelated. Each of and themselves together when the that they discover that Janice’s father these pieces questions the identity of situation takes a turn for the worst. was killed, and much like Claude’s the Brazilian male and questions of Meanwhile, Jackson Evans makes for parents, Janice’s mother leaves her preconceived notions of people. an enraging yet sympathetic Michael, daughter with Claude’s family. a difficult effort which requires nuance Black contemporary art in the states has as Evans navigates the troubled waters Bump writes about the evolution of often diverged from the white and black of Michael’s personality. Claude and Janice with a thoughtful- narrative, yet this exhibition takes a ness captured in clear, and sometimes different route. The often whitewashed, Where this production loses steam very short sentences, which may be a homogenous image of Brazil is confront- is in its staging. The immersive ap- nod to Bump’s interest in Stuart Dybek. ed by these black Brazilian artists with proach worked for “Southern Gothic,” Bump also captures a deep sense of work that is stained with white elitism. but not as well here. Despite the note loss as he documents the stories of They challenge the history and notions on the handout and pre-show an- Claude’s classmates and friends. After that have been set forth. The discovery nouncement, no one felt comfortable he decides to go to college for journal- of what it means to be Brazilian is less moving around the space on opening ism in Missouri, and Janice tries to of a story and instead an open-ended night. The red benches and even the exact her revenge as a young woman question, asking the viewer whose sunken living room space are flanked against the RedBelters, the drama stories get told and how do we exist in with attendees. Walking in front of them heightens. Janice’s plan overshadows them. (Caira Moreira-Brown) feels wrong. At the same time, some the conflict that Claude encounters of the movement feels forced as actors when he and a fellow black student are “The discovery of what it means to be cross the gigantic room to interact pressured to write about race at the Brazilian” is on view at Mariane Ibrahim, with one another. Though slight, these university’s student newspaper. 437 North Paulina, through March 21. extra moments deteriorate the energy of this tense show. (Amanda Finn) This conflict is undercut by Janice Theater unexpectedly showing up at Claude’s Windy City Playhouse, 3014 university, the more dramatic confronta- Keep It Together West Irving Park, (773)891-8985, tion overtakes the novel and articulates A Review of The Boys in the Band windycityplayhouse.com, $75-$95. insights about racial conflicts in at Windy City Playhouse Through April 19. America and how they differ in the city and the rural Midwest. Although Windy City Playhouse is trying to tell Lit more insight could be gleaned about us something about parties: they’re the characters from how they think dramatic as hell. Between “Southern Urban Insight through their situations, the conclusion Gothic” and “The Boys in the Band,” A Review of Gabriel Bump’s arrives abruptly, and there is that ache Windy City’s immersive aesthetic is in “Everywhere You Don’t Belong” that Claude and Janice deserve more its party phase. It’s like college but time to actualize and aspire to be their with infinitely better booze. Gabriel Bump’s debut novel, “Every- fullest selves. (Tara Betts) where You Don’t Belong,” offers a The company’s latest endeavor lets coming-of-age story about Claude Gabriel Bump will be in conversation the partygoers inhabit a decadent McKay Love, a young black boy raised with Audrey Petty at the Seminary apartment space designed by William by his eccentric grandmother and her Co-Op on February 17, 2020 at 6pm. Boles and dressed by Mealah Heiden- longtime friend Paul in Chicago’s reich. With decor like this, party host South Shore neighborhood. Claude is “Everywhere You Don’t Belong” Michael would be hard-pressed to get an introverted kid who tries to make by Gabriel Bump, Algonquin Books, 264 pages 65

Newcity MARCH 2020 Life is BeautifulBy David Alvarado 66

S師父 ifu IN PARTNERSHIP WITH An Evening of Cantonese Opera LOGAN CENTER FOR THE ARTS 915 E 60TH ST UCHICAGOGlobal Tue, Mar 17 •7pm The tradition of Cantonese opera, with its vivid costumes, distinctive music, and Free parking Mon–Fri after 4pm dramatic presentation, has been fostered and developed for over 500 years. Since its loganUChicago inception, this living practice has been carried on by sifu, experienced perfoArmpperrsoapnrdiate for families with moarnatlssy,t, eaorcpsreoorbfaatsthiifceusf,woaricmlltipnflrgue,esanenntdtinsaitnchogelinlnegac,rtarioacntciovomefspthoaefnsmieedyctabhnyaotnnrdaicdhaiitlsisototnoraryli.eCFshotirhnoreonsueegpphee6ecmrrcfhn0oauictrlrsdohmtsiriuaaoaelrnnnnac.dgeaeDgder.esFxTb2ree-IilC1.te2.Kl.pyERa/TersSkgifiinusgt_raointpioloentraiast