Newcity Chicago October 2019

ing the work of a sound designer and mixer. 49 “If the microphone was nowhere near the PATRICK FRIEL tree… then, no. It has to be added in post. AND KATHLEEN SACHS That’s the sound design part. We make envi- ronments of films feel real or otherworldly. seen it and believed in it for years. The film As cheesy as it may sound, Cine-File is, The mixing side is more like making a cock- takes on a form that any audience member after my family and friends, the most tail: You’ve got dialogue, music, sound can appreciate. It’s amazing to be there for important thing to me.” Friel sees Cine-File effects and backgrounds and all of it has to that final transformation.” as an extension of his support for films be balanced in a way that best tells the story and filmmakers and presenting them to for that particular moment. As the mixer, 49 audiences, as in past work at Chicago you've got these ingredients in front of you. PATRICK FRIEL Filmmakers, in independent film program- How you put them together is a matter of AND KATHLEEN SACHS ming, teaching, writing, and coordinating style and taste.” Weir describes the Chicago film listings for the Reader. film community as “a hearty beast.” “The Managing Editor and people who decide to stake their claim here Associate Editor, Cine-File 50 know that it’s a huge task to connect to the The weekly Cine-List newsletter produced HANNIBAL BURESS industry as a whole, but our location allows by the volunteer-run Cine-File provides for a level of artistic expression that the the most comprehensive non-commercial Founder, Melvina Masterminds machines on the coasts are less able to do,” listing of alternative and non-mainstream Hannibal Buress has brought his act back he says. “You have to be a generalist here, work from the past century or so showing to Chicago. His multimedia comedy career wear many hats. But the payoff when it all in neighborhoods across Chicago. “Our continues, including a 2010 Emmy nomi- comes together is so rewarding. I see the focus is writing about films that we like or nation for writing for “Saturday Night Live,” pace of decentralization of media of the last recommend, rather than writing negative “Broad City,” an appearance in season one ten years accelerating. It’s hard to know if reviews of ones we don't,” Patrick Friel of “Easy” as a Newcity reporter, and his we’ll ever feel like the white-hot center, but says. “Much, but certainly not all, film Boston comedy turn that started the ava- it’s beginning to feel less like a remote island. reviewing gravitates toward mainstream lanche that ended with Bill Cosby in prison. We are in a renaissance of content, and indie films, with better or more interesting The West Side native is developing an films are a big part of that. It's important for smaller work not getting the attention it Austin nonprofit, Melvina Masterminds, a filmmakers to have the choice to stay local deserves. We fill a gap, letting audiences center for art, science and technology, for through the finishing process.” Weir calls know about a wider range of filmgoing a 2020 launch. “When we have these dif- that process “very special,” “as a film comes options, and steering them toward smaller ferent workshops and you put it within three, together in finishing. The filmmakers have venues, and toward places where they will four blocks of people, they’re gonna check find a community to engage with.” Kath- it out. Whereas they might not at a neigh- 48 leen Sachs, a programmer, critic and one borhood on the other side of the city,” he DREW of the most frequent contributors over the told Block Club Chicago in August. “So I WEIR past seven years, edits copy and manages think that the access itself will just help out back-office needs of the site, including a kid that might not have seen that as a coordinator of festival coverage. “Chicago real option… [I]f you can allow youth at a OCTOBER 2019 Newcity film lovers—of which I am obviously one— very young age to feel powerful in the are fortunate to live in a city with so many standpoint of like, what they’re doing mat- critics dedicated to covering all facets of ters beyond a grade, it starts to do some- film life. Cine-File is just one more resource. thing to their self-esteem.” 51

Gladys Nilsson New Work THROUGH OCTOBER 19, 2019 Photo: Paula Court 1711 WEST CHICAGO AVENUE EMILY JOHNSON/CATALYST CHICAGO ILLINOIS 60622 WWW.RHOFFMANGALLERY.COM Then a Cunning Voice and A Night We Spend Gazing at Stars Assemble in collaboration with September 28-29, 2019 | 5:00 p.m.–8:00 a.m. | All night performance Duval Timothy, Big Chief Demond Melancon Calumet Park Cultural Center, 9801 S Ave G, Chicago and the Material Institute, New Orleans FREE PARKING AT THE EVENT — Go to dance.colum.edu for more information. TUFTING GUN Logan Center Gallery • Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts • 915 E 60th St Chicago IL 60637 September 13 arts.uchicago.edu/logan/gallery Smart Museum of Art | The University of Chicago | 5550 S. Greenwood Avenue | Chicago, IL 60637 | smartmuseum.uchicago.edu TAPESTRIES October 27

Joffrey Ballet’s “Jane Eyre” At the Auditorium Theatre, October 16-27 The Joffrey presents U.K. choreographer Cathy Marston's 2016 story-ballet adaptation of Charlotte Bronte's canonical tale, accompanied live by the Chicago Philharmonic. rts &The Joffrey Ballet's Amanda Assucena and Greig Matthews in \"Jane Eyre\"/Photo: Cheryl Mann Culture

Art ART TOP 5 Girl Forward refugee girls from Rogers Park, after doing a day of service and a screen printing workshop at PO Box. 1 LaToya Ruby Frazier: Image courtesy PO Box Collective. The Last Cruze. Renaissance Society. The Sending Forth MacArthur genius-grant recipient Community Action set her eye on Lordstown, Ohio, where a recently shuttered The Radical Hope of the PO Box Collective General Motors production plant has uprooted an entire By Kerry Cardoza community. Through Dec.1 Newcity OCTOBER 2019 The PO Box Collective, a new social Zielke and Salome Chasnoff, both working 2 Forgotten Forms. practice-oriented community group, held a artists and professors, signed a lease on the Ukrainian Institute of space-warming event in February at its location on the corner of Farwell and Modern Art. Edra Soto and Rogers Park headquarters (the site of a Glenwood in December. “Part of the spirit Yhelena Hall use overlooked former USPS post-office-box center). The that Salome and I brought to the signing of detritus and commonplace nineteen-member collective invited the the lease was that it was a risk, but we had materials from the urban neighborhood to come, have a bowl of soup faith that the community would come, landscape to explore the and write on the walls their desires and including the members,” Zielke says. elements that make up a dreams for what they’d like to see at the neighborhood. Opens new community space. “A lot of people refer to spaces like this as Oct. 11 'third space.' So not home, not work, but this “Ever since the closing of Mess Hall—which other space in your life that feels just as safe if 3 Tu nombre en arroz: was on Glenwood Avenue, too—Beyond not safer, and it’s really a place of human Astro, Aida Ramirez, Media and Heartland most recently, people expression,” Chasnoff says. “Whenever we’re Rosalinda Cabrera. wrote on the walls things that don't exist in making things together, we’re remaking each Chuquimarca. Corn husks, red Rogers Park anymore, in terms of a social other in a way. That’s, I think, what’s happen- corn seeds and coffee grounds practice art space and a community center,” ing here for us as collective members.” are among the materials used in co-founder Meredith Zielke says. “Everything this group exhibition. Through that they wrote on the walls, we’re trying to, The collective's programming will be Nov. 16 over time, program.” responsive to things happening in Chicago 4 Adela Goldberg: The 54 Last Judgment. Gallery 400. This ambitious, multi-part solo exhibition includes large-scale sculptures that encompass the community interests of Little Village residents. Through Oct. 10 5 Terrain Biennial 2019. Multiple locations. An international festival of site-specific art made for front yards, balconies and porches, includes over 200 artists and locations. Opens Oct. 1

Chasnoff stresses that PO Box does not operate using a conventional gallery model. The collective practices radical hospitality throughout their programming, and welcomes folks who don’t necessarily identify as artists to show work. “There’s nothing precious about what we put on our walls,” Chasnoff says. Fall programming at the space is the most ambitious yet. September’s theme focused on cultural composting, with the intention of helping people connect to existing resources. Artist Molly Costello, for example, hosted a seed share, which helps build secure, healthful and sustainable food systems. “It is really about how to recognize and embrace plenitude, suf ciency in what’s already here and the possibilities of it,” Chasnoff says. October’s exhibition, “Found:  Love Letters of Muslim Resistance and Community,” opens October 6. For this programming, collective member Mary Zerkel is collaborating with StopCVE Chicago, which works to counter and resist policies used to criminalize Muslims, and American Friends Service Committee-Chicago, which will serve as co-sponsors. \"Wandering Uterus\" piece created with community during \"Our Bodies, Our Battles\" show. “We’re at the beginning of a ramped-up election cycle,” Zerkel says. Image courtesy PO Box Collective. “Whereas we saw in 2016, anti-Muslim rhetoric was horrible and there were all kinds of personal consequences for people. I think we’re at and the world at large. July programming focused on reproductive the beginning of that. So this is a great opportunity to both invite the justice and bodily autonomy, which was partly in response to the Muslim community of Rogers Park, which there are many people, to barrage of anti-abortion legislation that has been cropping up across be part of something in this space, but also to highlight the creativity, the country. the things that you don’t ordinarily see in the media about the On one afternoon, local artist Rachel Wallis hosted a drop-in sewing community.” circle for the National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcer- ated Women and Girls' Clemency Quilt project. The Wandering Uterus Programming includes a training of countering anti-Muslim racism, a Project hosted workshops for participants to craft a uterus out of screening of Assia Boundaoui's “The Feeling of Being Watched” and a bers; many of the pieces went up on the walls as part of that month’s exhibition. Continued on page 58 “Latin American Pop Art is finally getting its due.” –BELatina Magazine Pop América 1965–1975 SEPTEMBER 21 – DECEMBER 8, 2019 FREE AND OPEN TO ALL OCTOBER 2019 Newcity www.blockmuseum.northwestern.edu Pop América, 1965-1975 is co-organized by the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, and the McNay Art Museum, San Antonio, Texas. The exhibition is a recipient of the inaugural Sotheby’s Prize and is supported by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and the and the Institute for Studies on Latin American Art (ISLAA). This project is supported by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Alumnae of Northwestern University. Image: Hugo Rivera-Scott, Pop América [detail], 1968. Collage on cardboard Courtesy of the artist. © Hugo Rivera-Scott. Photo by Jorge Brantmayer. 55

EXHIBITIONS THE ARTS CLUB OF CHICAGO LOGAN CENTER EXHIBITIONS 201 East Ontario Street At the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts 312 787 3997 915 E. 60th Street, Chicago, IL 60637 [email protected] / www.artsclubchicago.org 773 702 2787 Tues–Fri 11-6, Sat 11-3 [email protected] / arts.uchicago.edu/logan/gallery September 12–December 21 Abraham Cruzvillegas: The Ballad of Etc. Tues–Sat 9-9, Sun 11-9, Mon closed Through October 12 Garden Project | Eliza Myrie: garden/ruinate September 13–October 27 Tufting Gun Tapestries: Assemble THE BLOCK MUSEUM OF ART and Duval Timothy in collaboration with Demond Melancon and the Material Institute, New Orleans At Northwestern University 40 Arts Circle Drive, Evanston, IL MONIQUE MELOCHE GALLERY 847 491 4000 [email protected] / www.blockmuseum.northwestern.edu 451 N. Paulina Street Museum closed through September 20 312 243 2129 September 21–December 8 Pop América, 1965-1975 [email protected] / www.moniquemeloche.com Tues–Sat 11-6 CARL HAMMER GALLERY September 7–October 26 David Antonio Cruz: One Day I’ll Turn 740 N. Wells Street the Corner and I’ll Be Ready For It 312 266 8512 [email protected] / www.carlhammergallery.com MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY Tues–Sat 11-5:30 PHOTOGRAPHY September 6–October 26 Celebrating 40 Years November 1–December 21 Kahn and Selesnick - Madame Lulu’s At Columbia College Chicago 600 S. Michigan Avenue Book of Fates: Drawings and Photographs 312 663 5554 [email protected] / www.mocp.org DEPAUL ART MUSEUM Mon–Wed 10-5, Thurs 10-8, Fri–Sat 10-5, Sun 12-5 October 10–December 22 Third Realm At DePaul University 935 W. Fullerton Avenue THE NEUBAUER COLLEGIUM 773 325 7506 FOR CULTURE AND SOCIETY [email protected] / artmuseum.depaul.edu Mon–Tues closed, Wed–Thurs 11-7, Fri–Sun 11-5 At the University of Chicago September 12, 2019–February 23, 2020 Julia Fish: bound by spectrum 5701 South Woodlawn Avenue September 12, 2019–February 23, 2020 Remember Where You Are 773 795 2329 September 12, 2019–February 23, 2020 Architectural Annotations [email protected] / neubauercollegium.uchicago.edu Mon–Fri 10-5 Through January 31 Martha Rosler: Passionate Signals

POETRY FOUNDATION SCHINGOETHE CENTER 61 W. Superior Street of Aurora University 312 787 7070 1315 Prairie Street, Aurora, IL [email protected] / www.poetryfoundation.org 630 844 7843 Mon–Fri 11-4 [email protected] / www.aurora.edu/museum Saturday, October 12 11-4 Mon, Wed–Fri 10-4, Tues 10-7 September 5–December 20 The Life of Poetry in Morden Tower September 24–December 13 THREADS: A Line from There to Here THE RENAISSANCE SOCIETY SMART MUSEUM OF ART At the University of Chicago At the University of Chicago 5811 S. Ellis Ave., Cobb Hall, 4th Floor 5550 S. Greenwood Avenue 773 702 8670 773 702 0200 [email protected] / www.renaissancesociety.org [email protected] / www.smartmuseum.uchicago.edu Tues, Wed, Fri 10-5, Thurs 10-8, Sat, Sun 12-5, Mon closed Tues–Wed 10-5, Thurs 10-8, Fri–Sun 10-5 September 14–December 1 LaToya Ruby Frazier: The Last Cruze Through December 29 Samson Young: Silver Moon or RHONA HOFFMAN GALLERY Golden Star, Which Will You Buy of Me? October 19–December 29 Meleko Mokgosi: Bread, Butter, and Power 1711 W. Chicago Avenue October 25–December 29 Down Time: On the Art of Retreat 312 455 1990 [email protected] / www.rhoffmangallery.com ZHOU B ART CENTER Tues–Fri 10-5:30, Sat 11-5:30 September 13–October 26 Gladys Nilsson: New Work 1029 W. 35th Street 773 523 0200 RICHARD GRAY GALLERY [email protected] / www.zhoubartcenter.com Mon–Sat 10-5 Richard Gray Gallery, Hancock: 875 N. Michigan Avenue, 38th Floor September 20–October 12 Centerline Mon–Fri 10-5:30, Sat by appointment September 22–November 8 Terminal Forms - Ed Oh, Gray Warehouse: 2044 W. Carroll Avenue Tues–Sat 11-5 Presented by 062 312 642 8877 October 18–November 13 Painting The Figures Now [email protected] / www.richardgraygallery.com September 13–November 23 Leon Polk Smith: Endless Space (Gray Warehouse)

Robert Cottingham, Roxy, 2002. Color lithograph. Courtesy of Landfall Press, Inc. © Robert Cottingham and Landfall Press, Inc. \"Found: Love Letters of Muslim Resistance and Community\" is the October 2019 exhibition at PO Box Collective. fiber workshop led by CEW Design Studio and other local refugee women sewing co-ops. A group photo exhibition, \"Cuba Si! Bloqueo No!,\" organized with HotHouse, opens November 3,  coinciding with a citywide resolution to normalize relations with Cuba. December will bring the collective’s first artist-in-residence, William Estrada, who will host community printing projects throughout the month. Oct 3, 2019–Feb 9, 2020 For collective members, fostering mutual growth for themselves and the community and working against the toxic negativity that is such a presence in today’s realities are crucial. Celebrating the fiftieth “I’m thinking about scarcity and precarity,” Chasnoff says. “And this anniversary of the renowned neighborhood has seen ever-decreasing public spaces that can be print workshop, based in shared. So a scarcity of space, open, accessible space. \"Also Chicago until 2004 precarity, the danger that many of our community feel because of the different political things going on, that’s maybe the foundation of Newcity OCTOBER 2019 everything proactive and positive that we’re doing.” Collective member Amy Partridge agrees. “The sense of scarcity and precarity—and I’ll speak for myself—but it’s probably true that it penetrates all of our lives in really real ways,” she says. “In addition to these beautiful moments where our neighbors meet each other and we begin to build community just through sharing space together, I definitely think it meets my needs as well. When I heard from Meredith and Salome that they had signed the lease, I thought, ‘Oh my god, finally!’ Because we can again have a place where those calm times that are outside of scarcity and precarity can have some space for us to build and know each other.” mam.org/landfall Zielke hopes PO Box moves beyond concepts like scarcity, survival and tolerance. “I feel like PO Box is a space that moves past those words and talks about skill sharing. The food [we provide at events] is not to keep people alive, it’s about thriving. It’s about skill sharing and resource sharing and loving each other.” 58

Dance SITE/less interior, set for a prior performance, “Shadows Across our Eyes.” Photo: Jamie Padgett. Finding the Edges outside: a one-story brick structure, painted industrial gray, occupying all available space Architecture Leads the Dance in “On Notice” at SITE/less on the triangle formed by Augusta, a small service drive running north from Milwaukee Avenue, and the Union Pacific North and By Sharon Hoyer Northwest lines, right before they sidle up alongside the expressway. Inside, it appears the SITE/less portion of the structure was an In an oblong, dogleg room, an improvised physically show him, and there has to be a add-on, enclosed by extending the walls of a space negotiated between a perfunctory visceral, kinetic conversation. And it shocks once-separate building right up to the Metra triangular building and a Metra line, wife-hus- me every time: if he says he’s going to build line, resulting in one long, uninterrupted stretch band creative team Michelle Kranicke and something with 130 cinderblocks, in my brain I of interior brick and concrete wall, riddled with know it, but when they’re actually there it’s like, cracks and patched over decades with old David Sundry are marrying the yielding, fluid yin of dance to the staunch and weighty yang oh my gosh! They’re heavy and dusty and if I paint in a fruitless attempt to seal leaks. of architecture. Not meld, mind you, marry— bang my toe on them it hurts. The physical Overhead, gorgeous bowstring truss soars, OCTOBER 2019 Newcity with all the compromise, conflict and elation reality is interesting. We’re both trying to supporting an arched roof with a skylight and the word connotes. organize bodies in space.” industrial fans. I met Kranicke and Sundry there to talk about their upcoming collabora- “All disciplines have their edges, sometimes Since 2017 that space has been SITE/less, tion, “On Notice,” running October 10-19 and they’re porous, sometimes you can find ways Kranicke and Sundry’s strangely magical, part of the Chicago Architecture Biennial. in and sometimes they butt up against each mercurial rehearsal and performance other. When Dave comes to rehearsal, all his space-slash-gallery. Located on a dead-end “On Notice” is built upon ideas from Sundry that (except to pedestrians) stretch of Augusta tie together statements about representation conversation about what he’s going to do is imaginative,” Kranicke says of the collaborative between Elston and the Kennedy, SITE/less is imposed by mass media, ideas first put forth at once unexpected and banal. From the in the 1980s New York art scene—in which process. “Whereas [the dancers and I] 59

Sundry had firsthand experience—and how space, or here and now, and it’s just a DANCE TOP 5 those techniques have become self-imposed launchpad to somewhere else it really renders in our self-branded, Instagram age. As we [architecture] a second-class citizen.” 1A Celebration of Lar chatted, Sundry strode across the room, Lubovitch. Harris Theater. describing the layout of long, raised cat- Within this dense web of architectural and The Joffrey Ballet, Martha walk-like platforms, each backed by green cultural concepts, Kranicke weaves choreogra- Graham Dance Company, Ballet screens, that will crisscross and stack at phy to be performed by herself and dancer Austin, members of Hubbard various levels throughout the space. Sundry Molly Fe Strom, and to take place on the Street and the Chicago-bred, likens the fashion runway to a pier, to a bland, network of runways. It’s a departure from the nationally renowned anonymous structure that serves as a duo’s usual modus operandi, which begins choreographer’s company share launchpad for next year’s hottest trends. “I’m with ideas generated by Kranicke and her the stage to present works from trying to take what I call cynical infrastructures, company Zephyr Dance, with Sundry his prolific career. Oct. 5-6 where they take all this time and money and fashioning architectural responses—a role effort to figure out, but you’re not supposed to reversal Kranicke found challenging, being 2 ELECTROGYNUS. Dance look at them—they’re almost like throwaway accustomed to taking the lead. Sundry jumps Center of Columbia College. construction, like an eighties idea of commodi- in to say that he feels their work has always Rennie Harris alum d. Sabela ties,” Sundry says. “To take these things and been in dialogue. Kranicke agrees… but still. “I grimes brings his unique stack them up in an absurd way until they was struggling so much at the beginning of approach to movement, become interesting in and of themselves. Like this project because I didn’t know a lot about developed from black vernacular those crazy spaces skateboarders colonize architecture or the eighties art scene in New dance forms, in a performance under freeways, where they become these York,” she says. “A lot of my personas come featuring digital illustration by Mr. romantic and desirable aspects of the city. The from a personal place, from practice in the Maxx Moses and video by idea was to make these digital infrastructures studios. This was more an outside-in than an Meena Murugesan. Oct. 10-12 of commerce, where you’re supposed to look inside-out. It was a process of pushing on away, and make them a place that’s desirable.” walls to find the brick that would move.” 3 Jane Eyre. Auditorium Theatre. The Joffrey presents Newcity OCTOBER 2019 Dancers and audience members passing in That tension between creative disciplines is U.K. choreographer Cathy front of the green screens will be captured by where the title of the show comes from, “On Marston’s 2016 story-ballet filmmaker Ted Hardin, who will serve as Notice” evoking a sense of being monitored, a adaptation of Charlotte Bronte’s performer and cameraman, live-feeding to Mat warning and, for Kranicke, a Tarantino-esque canonical tale, accompanied live Rappaport’s Range Mobile Lab, a 1995 GMC Mexican standoff. And this is the very ethos of by the Chicago Philharmonic. step van loaded with video gear in which SITE/less, where the medium is, in part, the Oct. 16-27 Rappaport will ust to live-VJ backgrounds and message: in a world where multidisciplinary art project them on the van and potentially is quickly becoming the default, to rediscover 4 Marginalia. Links Hall. throughout the room. Lots of concepts are at the edges of art forms and find where Khecari presents a new play: multiple persona, fashion, virtual reality, collaboration is necessary, not automatic. It’s a duet for two women, exploring disposable construction. As Sundry and potentially uncomfortable and complicated the complexity and nuance of Kranicke enthusiastically talk through the process—an unresolved project in an female rapport, in the project, each idea cuing three more from the unresolved space. Kranicke says open-ended- company’s signature somatic other, concepts pile up like Sundry’s stack of ness is what she loves about her chosen approach to movement and intersecting runways. Another central thesis of discipline. “One of the reasons I became a metaphysics. Oct. 24-26 “On Notice” is “space as server” and a line from dancer is because of the density, because of Rem Koolhaas, stating that architecture the possibility. That’s what makes it so 5 On Notice. SITE/less. disappeared in the twentieth century. To gratifying to be a part of or to watch, because Zephyr Dance Sundry, the twenty-first century has heralded it’s not resolved, it’s not told to you.” founder-artistic director further denigration of architecture with the Michelle Kranicke and her advent of massive, expensive buildings that Sundry adds, in the concrete imagery of an collaborator (and husband) exist solely to house servers—places that are architect, “The goal of critical thinking is not to architect-artist David Sundry exclusively launchpads (see runways) to wrap up and have a nice bow on a system of present a densely layered someplace else. “Some people see this as thought. And that’s not the goal of SITE/less to performance about radical or transformative,” Sundry says. “I tend lecture on what art is. It’s to put at the forefront representation in the digital to take the opposite view and see it as the the skill set to look hard and observe so the age. Oct. 10-19 final nail in the coffin, and us not realizing in next landing platform is solid. It’s like rock this age of limited resources, that we’re still climbing: all that matters is the next hold.” spending massive amounts of money constructing this infrastructure, which I call At SITE/less, 1250 West Augusta, October degenerate because the payback is unequal. If 10-19, Thursdays-Saturdays, 7:30pm. $20. you’re not going to spend this money to create Tickets at zephyrdance.com. 60

Photo: 'FM' -a sound installation by Malose Malahlela in an historic underground shooting range built inDesign 1923 located below the Drill Hall Precinct in the inner city, 2014, Photo: Eric DubeA Changing Neighborhood A Q&A with Malose Malahlela of Keleketla! Library for the Chicago Architecture Biennial By Leah Gallant The third iteration of the Chicago What are the origins of Keleketla! How does the work of Keleketla! relate OCTOBER 2019 Newcity Architecture Biennial is unique in its focus on Library? the history of the building and the bringing together the international and the We [with Rangaoto Hlasane] started working neighborhood in which it’s located? hyper-local. One contributor is Malose as a cultural platform while we were still It’s planted directly in the inner city of Malahlela, co-founder and co-director of students, in 2003 or 2004. We were doing Johannesburg. The inner city itself is a dense, Keleketla!, a Johannesburg library, art and programming in our rooms, and we lived in complex thing, because it was the first entry community space. Malahlela will collaborate student accommodations—we were in a point for different migrations of people. with Chicago’s National Public Housing thirty-floor building with thirty rooms per floor, Johannesburg, like Nigeria, is one of the Museum and the Stockyard Institute, an arts so you can imagine the number of students. It places that people are coming to from across and education initiative by artist Jim Duignan in was a very public sphere, and we would print the African continent. It’s a pan-African the Back of the Yards neighborhood. Keleketla!, out flyers, then go from room to room to invite neighborhood, rich in different cultures and which participated in the tenth Berlin Biennale people to sessions we were hosting. We narratives. The building is significant because for Contemporary Art (2018), has hosted would have music, sound pieces, projections, it was used for the 1956 Treason Trial of cultural programming out of its Johannesburg graphic poetry and zine-writing events. That South Africa, where Nelson Mandela and building since 2008, including film and music was the beginning, but without putting another 156 leaders from across South Africa festivals, artist residencies, afterschool wording or theory to it—we started just were put on trial because they drafted the workshops and publishing projects. For the through action, by doing it. And then we freedom charter. So we’re located in a Biennial, Keleketla! will present a sound professionalized ourselves, we started heritage site that’s entwined with the timeline installation and radio project that investigates Keleketla! Library, and we moved from our of the city of Johannesburg itself, and we’ve the changing neighborhood around the former accommodations to a heritage site, the Drill used the history to propel ourselves into a site of the Jane Addams Homes. Hall, which was built in 1904. different kind of sphere of artistic practice. 61

\"The Allure of Gold and Other Solidarity Stories,\" 2018, installation view, part of Keleketla Library, 10. Berlin Biennale, HAU Heb- DESIGN TOP 5 bel am Ufer (HAU2), Berlin /Photo: Timo Ohle 1Chicago Architecture Newcity OCTOBER 2019 Are there similarities that you see in how sound can complete a sense of Biennial. Chicago Cultural between the community Keleketla! is space, and the concept of listening to the Center. CAB's third edition based in and the social context around infrastructure itself. The site has been enters a second month with the Jane Addams Homes? dormant for a while, it’s been locked up and architecture, design, urbanism, Funnily enough, Chicago and South Africa boarded up. But if the house could talk with policymaking and visual arts have interesting parallels. The Great Migration, the existing neighborhood, what would it events around the city. Through in which African Americans moved from the say? There’s a quote by Alejandro Aravena Jan. 20 South to the North, to Chicago and other in which he defines architecture with a parts of America, has some similarities to the capital A as skyscrapers and superstruc- 2 Geometry of Light. Gold Rush in Johannesburg, when a lot of tures that are beautiful but daunting. And Farnsworth House. Luftwerk black Africans or black South Africans moved then you take the Jane Addams Homes, and Iker Gil create a light-based there. They worked in mining, and then the where architecture is defined differently. It’s art intervention to transform the housing industry, working as maids and so on the infrastructure within a community, it’s a Farnsworth House and explore and so forth. There are also parallels between narrative about housing issues. Our the geometries that connect it to housing rights: In South Africa segregation installation is about all these things: the natural landscape. Oct. was the policy, in Chicago, it was more the neighborhood disappearances, narratives 12-13, VIP Opening: Oct.11, Chicago Housing Authority structuring people that were there but are really fading out. 7pm, $75 into different realms. Where the Drill Hall was located was the first mixed-race neighbor- What have you learned from your 3 Chicago Works: Assaf hood, where Indians, blacks, and whites were experience doing community-based art Evron. Museum of all living together, producing different cultural and culture work? Contemporary Art. The and political forms; similarly, Jane Addams You can’t predetermine anything, you can multidisciplinary artist and former worked in a neighborhood of Italian, Jewish, only plan to a certain extent. Other things will photojournalist explores local and black residents. fall into place, and others are improvisation. histories of Israel and Chicago at It’s like jazz music. It’s an open platform and the intersection of architecture, Can you expand on what your project for we’re trying to include as many people as design and place. Through Jan. the Biennial will look like? possible, just as long as Chicago and the 2020 It will be a scaffolding structure at the Jane community is very much participating. I’m Addams Homes that has audio and radio there to add to an already existing energy, 4 Setting the Stage: components, and we’re still working on the and I’ll be happy when the community itself Objects of Chicago day-to-day programming. We’re interested takes ownership and sees value in the project. Theatre. Design Museum of Chicago. An exhibition to celebrate the Year of Chicago Theater by showcasing design objects including costumes, lights, sound, props and sets, on loan from local theater companies. Through Jan. 2020 5 The Columbian Ball. Museum of Science and Industry. A night at the museum celebrating futuristic fashion and technology in the light of the MSI’s \"Wired to Wear\" exhibition. Oct. 5, 6pm-11pm 62

D&iDnirningking Photo: David Hammond three near the end of the twentieth century. Irish whiskey is the world’s fastest-growing brown spirit category, still behind Scotch and bourbon but gaining ground. There are twenty-five whiskey distilleries in Ireland in 2019, with about that same number opening this year or in the planning stages. So attention must be paid to Irish whiskey… And a little respect would be nice, too. Irish whiskey, like Scotch and bourbon, must be produced in a specific way. Basically, Irish whiskey must be made of barley (malted or un-malted, with optional grains added), barrel-aged for three years, and offered at no less than eighty proof. And it has to be made in Ireland. Irish Whiskey Irish whiskey is also, many times, triple distilled. Some argue that triple distillation further strips the spirit of flavor, while others contend that triple distillation makes for a smoother sip. Either way, a lot of the final flavor in an Irish whiskey comes from the barrels it’s aged within; old wine or sherry barrels give Irish whiskey, and Scotch, much of their flavor. Unlike Scotch, Irish whiskey has no smokiness at all because peat is not used in its produc- tion. (Connemara brand is the rare exception.) Irish whiskey, like Scotch, is usually a blend of whiskeys of multiple ages and barrel types. Show Some Respect mid-2000s, and it spread from bartenders to “Scotch celebrates smoke, subtle citrus and OCTOBER 2019 Newcity mainstream drinkers. Other Irish whiskeys earthy spices,” says Jonny Caron of Punch By David Hammond followed suit [and the result has been] mass Bowl Social (310 North Green). “Irish whiskey amounts of cheap Irish whiskey.“ celebrates oak, roasted nuts and a persistently If you drink Irish whiskey at all, it’s clean finish.” Caron notes the triple distillation probably a shot of Jameson, once a year, The lack of respect for Irish whiskey is unfair. of Irish versus two for Scotch: “Thus the end on St. Patrick’s Day. The Gaelic term for fermented and distilled result tends to strike earlier in your palate, barley is uisce beatha (pronounced “ish-ka whereas Scotch holds back and presents Irish whiskey is so often consumed as shots, baha”) and it means “water of life.” From uisce further back on your palate. There’s also a usually several in one sitting, it’s considered on beatha, we derive the English word “whiskey,” tremendous number of laws and regulations par with vodka: a relatively inexpensive spirit, which is compelling evidence for whiskey governing Scotch. Irish whiskey, on the other one that many, particularly the young, throw originating in Ireland. Some historians hold that hand, has regulations similar to American back to rapidly ascend to dizzy heights of monks traveling to the land of St. Patrick whiskey. None of these differences make Irish inebriation. brought distillation gear from the Middle East, whiskey an inferior product.” where it was used to produce perfumes. While Kat Hawkins, beverage manager at The spirits professionals all felt Irish whiskey Shaw’s Crab House, agrees Irish whiskey “has According to the Irish Whiskey Association, was in no way a lesser sip than Scotch, a connotation of something that you just do Ireland, specifically Dublin, was once thWe although the actual quality of the spirit may be shots of in college,” there’s blame to go “global powerhouse of whiskey production.” less critical to a spirit’s popularity than its around. But Irish whiskey took a big hit during marketing. In the end, in the spirits world, it’s Prohibition, going from about thirty distilleries all about the marketing. “I think we have ourselves [industry folk] to at the end of the nineteenth century to two or blame for Irish whiskey taking a back seat to “I think there’s way more money involved in Scotch and bourbon,” says Dan Kurtzman of advertising bourbon and Scotch,” says Anton Osteria Via Stato (620 North State). “Shooting Valkov at The Press Room (1134 North Jameson became a huge thing in the early-to Washington). “There are also a lot more distilleries in the U.S. and Scotland and way more products. More money means more 63

Chef Damo Maloney/photo: Leigh Loftus DINING & DRINKING TOP 5 Newcity OCTOBER 2019 options to experiment and release special enough, it’s also been matured in rum casks editions, which are usually very high-priced. for added spice. It’s so smooth with hints of 1 Filipino American Heritage So, the perception is that they are superior.” vanilla, blackberries and allspice plus a Month. Sunda. Billy Dec of caramel creamy finish. You won’t have whiskey Sunda presents the dishes of his Though what qualifies an Irish whiskey (or a face with this one—it’s that easy to sip. I like it homeland throughout the month. vodka or a bourbon) to be a “premium” spirit straight up.” Classic Filipino dishes include remains undefined, it usually means the spirit oxtail kare-kare, ginataang is “better” (as judged, many times, by the Kilbeggan is the oldest licensed whiskey mussels and lechon kawali, the producers themselves) and it’s always more producer in the Republic of Ireland, starting most delicious pork dish in the expensive. To take advantage of this growing production in 1757. “It’s a combo of vanilla, world. October  category, Irish whiskey distillers are releasing orange and nuts, with a cinnamon aftertaste,” premium options, including Jameson 18 Year says Maloney. “You’ll notice a spicy undertone 2 Eat Your Words. Chicago Old ($175) and Bushmills 21 Year Old (edging with a small ‘bite’—perfect on the rocks or Cultural Center. 826Chi, the $300). There are lesser-known Irish whiskeys splash of water to open up the whiskey.” nonprofit dedicated to giving that go much higher, and lesser-quality Irish voice to Chicago’s youth, hosts a whiskeys that go much lower. Slane whiskey is produced in the Boyne night of food from Chicago Valley, and it is also available at Chicago restaurants featuring a battle Jameson and Bushmills dominate the Irish liquor stores. Maloney explains that it’s between chefs Lee Wolen (Boka, whiskey market in the United States, but there “made using whiskeys drawn from a trio of Somerset, Devereaux) and are many more to choose from, with new Irish casks: virgin oak casks, seasoned casks Jimmy Papadopoulos (Bellmore). distilleries opening all the time. (which previously contained Tennessee Oct. 3 whiskey and bourbon) and Oloroso Sherry To get a sense of what lesser-known Irish casks. I taste sweet oak, caramel and ginger. 3 Oktoberfestiversary. 1800 whiskeys we should sample, we chatted with I’d recommend this one for Irish coffee. Since West Cuyler. Dovetail a real live Irish guy, Damo Maloney, chef at the whiskey is aged in sherry casks, it tends Brewery and Begyle Brewing’s The Kerryman (661 North Clark), the site to be on the sweeter side.” annual two-day festival of beer, where Irish O.G. Dean O’Banion got his start food trucks and entertainment, as a singing waiter (before going on to As a son of the Emerald Isle, Maloney cops to benefitting The Friendship Center. become Capone’s major rival and leader of understandable allegiances, and his prefer- Oct. 12-13 the North Side Gang) and where punk rock ence is for Irish over Scotch and bourbon, the took hold in Chicago at the 1970s-1980s leaders in the dark spirits category. “Scotch 4 Fifth Annual New Belgium club O’Banion’s. It is a place that has gone has a smoky flavor, which I’m not a fan of, and Brewing Pumpkin Carving through a lot of Irish whiskey. bourbon is aged for only two years.” Irish whis- Contest. Easy Bar. Easy Bar key is aged for three years, so Maloney says, “I provides the carving tools and Maloney is from Limerick, and we got his take might be a little biased, but of these three the pumpkins. You provide the on Irish whiskeys that he enjoys but that have choices I have to go with Irish whiskey for its creativity to win prizes for Best, yet to gain the popularity of Jameson and smooth and clean taste.” Most Creative and Ugliest Bushmills. Pumpkin. Oct.28 Expect to see more Irish whiskey products Teeling was the first Irish whiskey distillery to soon. This month, Jameson Caskmates 5 Historic Halloween open in Dublin in 125 years—or we should say Revolution Brewing Limited Edition will be Mansion Tour. Lawry’s. reopen. The first Teeling distillery opened in available. Jameson provides the spirit, Scary puppets, mystical history 1782 in Dublin, and then like many other Irish Revolution Brewing provides the beer-sea- tour, spooky stories and prime distilleries, it fell on hard times. Maloney says, soned casks, and the result is a spirited union rib sliders with homemade chips. Teeling provides “a delicious small-batch blend between the world’s leading Irish whiskey and Call Lawry’s to reserve: with a very high malt content. Interestingly one of Chicago’s most noteworthy beers. 312.787.5000. Oct. 31 64

“The First Rainbow Coalition” Film When I’m The most basic questions are being And, in many cases, festivals serve as a Fifty-Five asked again and again about the per- theatrical exhibition opportunity for films sistence of the feature filmmaking form for [that will be released in other formats].” Chicago International Sticks the immediate future and years beyond. How (Mostly) To The Basics will the collective experience of moviegoing, “The sheer amount and range of quality work shared by diverse audiences persist and that we are able to see and consider is By Ray Pride evolve? As the Chicago International Film encouraging,” Flancher says. “It’s easier than Festival christens its fifty-fifth excursion in ever to make a film and submit it to festivals, October, we checked in with artistic director and that democratization of the art certainly OCTOBER 2019 Newcity Mimi Plauché, managing director Vivian Teng, improves our program. This year’s shorts senior programmer Anthony Kaufman and program includes many alumni as well as programmer Sam Flancher. award-winning shorts filmmakers returning with a feature in the Documentary Competition. “On the industry side, it feels that while It’s exciting to see evolution take place within filmmakers, producers and distributors a filmmakers’ body of work, and we cherish navigate the shifting landscape, film festivals our ability to share that with audiences. I was still play an important role in the life of a film,” an intern during the fiftieth festival five years Plauché says, in a city with fifty or more fests ago, a whirlwind time to get involved. This is my each year. “Film festivals can be the platform fourth year overseeing the short film program, to introduce audiences and distributors to and I think I’ve done well to identify new new work and emerging artists, as well as filmmaking talents and build relationships with create buzz around upcoming releases. shorts filmmakers from Chicago and all over 65

the world. As the decade turns within the film community, with FILM TOP 5 over, I’m excited to see where filmmakers and audiences alike.” 1 Au Hasard Balthazar. Siskel. “Ah, these filmmakers go next, and to the one with the donkey,” Walter Hill continue to find new voices worth “My role shifted gradually over the reportedly says when cornered for a past five years,” Plauché says. confession that Robert Bresson is a key showcasing and supporting.” influence on his movies. Godard called “In 2017, I was named artistic “Au hasard Balthazar” “the world in an hour and a half.” On 35mm, let’s call the ever- “While the core of our program- director of the Festival, as I was giving animal’s journey to grace essential viewing. October 4, 8 ming—our dedication to great entrusted with overseeing all 2 Pain and Glory. At sixty-nine, cinema and the discovery of new programming and program Almodóvar sums up, with Antonio talents—remains intact,” Plauché development. I have really Banderas playing a counterpart to the shaped my team, with the Spanish master looking back on what will says of the legacy of founder be his legacy. Opens Friday, October 11 Michael Kutza, as programming important additions of Sam expands to include an “Expanded Flancher, Anthony Kaufman 3 Queen of Diamonds. Chicago Film Visions” program, which “pushes and Alissa Simon to the Society at NEIU. A 35mm restoration pre-defined creative boundaries. programming staff. With our of the 1991 Las Vegas-set independent Craftspersons working behind the collective experience, expertise feminist classic in the tactile, allusive style and passion for cinema, we have director Nina Menkes is known for. An camera will be highlighted, and essential vision. Wednesday, October 9 ‘Architecture x Cinema’ will bring been able to strengthen and a quartet of production veterans expand the scope of the Festival. 4 Let’s Scare Jessica to Death. Also, it had been a goal to build Music Box of Horrors. Director John to talk about their creative Hancock will appear with a 16mm print a bridge with the Chicago of his 1971 low-budget horror gem; after processes and world-building leaving a mental hospital, Jessica quickly filmmaking community. With discovers there may be more madness in in cinema,” alongside master the Connecticut countryside than she had Industry Days, now in its fifth counted on. October 19-20 classes in the Industry Days year, we have made great strides 5 The Killers/The Killers. Siskel. section that include distribution Two adaptations of the Ernest visionary Bob Berney, screenwriter in connecting the work of the Hemingway short-short story arrive in 4K Steven Conrad and Oscar-winning festival with the local industry. DCP restorations: Robert Siodmak’s 1946 Vivian and I continue to build memory-drenched noir (October 4, 6, 10) production designers Hannah and Don Siegel’s hard-edged machine-tooled strategic partnerships with color delirium from 1964 (October 4, 6, 7), Beachler (“Black Panther”) leaning heavy on the nihilism. In his last film organizations, businesses and role, big-business bad guy Ronald Reagan and Adam Stockhausen belts Angie Dickinson, inviting a punch from within the industry while we John Cassavetes. October 4-10 (“The Grand Budapest Hotel”). enhance existing relationships 66 “Strengthening our collaborations with arts and community partners. with, and connections to the arts The next five years will be about and film community is important accelerating the growth of to build audiences and increase Industry Days and our strategic the impact of our programming,” and community partnerships Plauché says, citing partnerships while we, of course, stay true to our mission of discovering and with the MCA and Center on supporting new talent and Halsted. Expanding Industry celebrate great cinema.” Days to address the Midwest filmmaking community is another “Because films are begun initiative. Teng hopes to raise sometimes years in advance the profile of the Festival to of when they are completed,” maximize the impact of the Anthony Kaufman says, “you’d work. A rebranding and think they might be out of touch marketing campaign by Ogilvy and “refocused” public relations with the current moment. are key to the plan. “We believe But what I love in this year’s in the power of film to educate, documentaries is that, through filmmaker foresight or just wild entertain and inspire. Our coincidence, they feel incredibly programming, which is defined by excellence and inclusiveness, topical and resonant.” Kaufman cites “Love Child,” “a heartbreak- brings people of all ages from across all communities together.” ing, years-in-the-making story of an unconventional Iranian family Plauché notes that the 2018 seeking asylum; ‘The Kingmaker’, audience between the ages of eighteen to twenty-five increased an unsettling portrait of the autocratic political dynasty of to thirty percent of the total Imelda Marcos; and ‘The First audience, which is more than Rainbow Coalition,’ a look back double the 2017 percentage. at the confluence of Chicago Newcity OCTOBER 2019 “Five years ago, it was our fiftieth political activists from different ethnic groups in the late 1960s. anniversary and we were celebrating our history and what These are films that encapsulate our organization has contributed where we are in the world right now and should incite discussion to Chicago,” Teng says. “In five about what we should do about it.” years time, we’ll celebrate our sixtieth anniversary. At this midway point, we are focused on looking The fifty-fifth Chicago to the future, redefining and International Film Festival runs reimagining who we are as an October 16-27 at River East. organization and the role we play Chicagofilmfestival.com

Live at The Book Cellar IN THE FORMER BOOKMAN’S ALLEY SPACE AT 1712 SHERMAN AVE, EVANSTON Garth Greenwell Snazzy Time Story Kitty Curran 224.999.7722 Hour with Ms. T! and Larissa Zageris in conversation with Wednesday, October 9, 6pm Rebecca Makkai October 11, 11am “For Your Consideration: Translation Salon October 2, 6pm at Harold Keanu Reeves” Washington Library The Kates!! October 23, 7pm Lawrence Venuti, reading from and discussing his new translation of the avant-garde Catalan author J.V. Foix’s Storytime! October 11, 7pm Aaron Cohen poetry collection Daybook 1918: Early Fragments October 4, 11am Ursula Bielski “Move On Up: Chicago Soul Music and Black Thursday, October 17, 6pm Sara Schacter “Haunts of the White City” Cultural Power” Vojislav Pejovic: American Sfumato October 12, 4pm October 24, 7pm “Just So Willow” Saturday, October 19, 6pm October 4, 7pm Local Author Night Amy Rigby Henry Kisor & Christine Goodier: Traveling With Service Animals Lincoln Square featuring Alexandra “Girl To City” Wednesday, October 23, 6pm Ravenswood Apple Fest Ellison, R.R. Campbell, October 25, 7pm Melanie Holmes: A Hero on Mount St. Helens Matthew Murrey, October 5 & 6, 9am John Domini and Halloween Thursday, October 24, 6pm Goldie Goldbloom Happenings P.E. Moskowitz: The Case Against Free Speech StoryStudio October 18, 7pm Lincoln Square 2019 Writers Festival For details on these and other October events, visit our website at Michael Dobbs October 26, 11am at Columbia College Chicago WWW.BOOKENDSANDBEGINNINGS.COM October 5 & 6, 10am “The Unwanted: America, Jami Attenberg Auschwitz and a Village John Young Caught in Between” “All This Could Be Yours” October 17, 6pm at Harold in conversation with “When the Coin Is In the Air” Washington Library Samantha Irby October 5, 6pm October 29, 6pm Shana Youngdahl Weiko Lin Rhett & Link “As Many Nows As “Crazy Screenwriting Secrets” I Can Get” “The Lost Causes October 9, 7pm October 18, 7pm of Bleak Creek” October 30, 7pm Mark Larson Poetry Pentathalon at Athenaeum Theater “Ensemble: An Oral History October 19, 6pm of Chicago Theater” October 10, 7pm Essay Fiesta! October 21, 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

Newcity OCTOBER 2019LitThese Cold Days 68 in Hell A Conversation with Carol Anshaw About “Right after the Weather” By Brian Hieggelke I’ve become friendly with Carol Anshaw as an unexpected benefit of writing about her work, something that’s been going on now for twenty-five years, dating back to her debut, “Aquamarine.” I became more conscious of this in reading her latest novel, “Right after the Weather,” her first since her breakthrough bestseller, “Carry the One,” back in 2012. Anshaw is perfectly perceptive in creating characters, both major and minor, who are so spot-on in depiction that you can’t help but assume they’re real people. And she does this with a wit that manages to be both kind and cutting, with the clandestine pain of a paper cut. Though I am a relatively minor player in her real life, I was both loving the new work while somewhat fearing I might see myself laid bare by her words, as I am sure that if she wanted to, she would get to the heart of my foibles and failings far more effectively than any moment of self-examination ever might. Of course, knowing Anshaw personally has nothing to do with it. Like the old Roberta Flack song, “Killing Me Softly,” it’s impossible to read Anshaw and not think she has a spycam on your circle of friends and family. Instead, I was able simply to enjoy her carefully crafted sentences, which manage to deliver everything with such economy and fluidity that she makes the product of her consider- able toil so easy to take. “Right after the Weather” is the story of Cate, a well-regarded scenic designer for theater in Chicago on the verge of bigger-time opportunities, and her circle of friends and lovers, including her ex-husband, Graham, and her current lover Maureen and former lover Dana. It’s her lifelong platonic friend, Nealie, however, who she finds under physical attack and attempted rape one fateful day that changes everything for her. All this, set under the black cloud of the 2016 election, which changed everything for all of us. We discussed “Right after the Weather” via email.

Talk about the progression of writing about inhabiting that space, of trauma? LIT TOP 5 the story of “Right after the Weather.” Does it reflect an increasingly darker It’s been seven years since “Carry the worldview for you? Or does the 1 Greg Michie and Bill One,” so I’m guessing it’s been with process drive you into darker places? Ayers. Volumes Bookcafe. you awhile. But it’s set in a specific I do think the world is a darker place than Greg Michie returns to the time, against the backdrop of a certain when I started writing so my ink has gone Chicago neighborhood, public national calamity not even three years from blue to black. But also, a smart school, grade and subject where old—the election of he who shall not writer—and I’m sorry I’ve forgotten his he first taught in the 1990s in his be named. How did the story take its name as I’d love to credit him for this latest book, “Same As It Never final shape? observation—said that, fictively, everything Was.” October 1 The characters had enough on their plates that follows violence is interesting. In “Carry the One” I had a car crash that afflicted 2 Saeed Jones. as it was, then along came Trump. I wasn’t everyone involved. With “Right after the American Writers Weather,” it’s a home invasion that shifts Museum. Award-winning poet expecting him, but once he arrived I had and Buzzfeed’s “AM to DM” a lot of pieces around long after co-host Saeed Jones reads two choices: to set the novel a year earlier the event. I need change to move from his memoir, “How We Fight the characters and violence is a for Our Lives.” October 16 change accelerator. 3 Hanif Abdurraqib, Shira As your publisher points Erlichman and Paige out, you take a long time to Lewis. Women and Children write short novels with First. Three poets read from new exquisite prose, “like a diamond poetry collections: “A Fortune For cutter looking for the perfect Your Disaster,” “Odes to Lithium” cut.” Can you talk about your and “Space Struck.” October 18 writing process? To give myself confidence, I start 4 Tim O’Brien with writing scenes then right away Alex Kotlowitz. Harold revise them until they’re pretty Washington Library Center. polished. When I have a small folder Tim O’Brien, National Book of these I can branch out, move Award-winning author of “The on, get a bigger picture on what Things They Carried.” shares I’m doing. I think a lot of books “Dad’s Maybe Book,” his first are slightly too long so I try to book in almost twenty years. avoid that. I do a lot of paring and compressing. I’m always working October 22 toward making a book as good as I can and if that means taking an 5 Graywolf Forty-Fifth extra year, well, fast isn’t what I’m Anniversary. Poetry going for. Foundation. Graywolf Press celebrates forty-five years with and have the characters go on with their Have you ever written a play? a reading featuring Nick Flynn, particular personal lives; or bite the bullet If not, want to? Carmen Giménez Smith, and go through and figure out how the I’ve never written a play or a Erika L. Sánchez, Diane Seuss new landscape would affect their lives. poem or a country song. One thing and Tom Sleigh. October 29 They are engaged, political people and I am interested in is writing more stories. would certainly be having everything from I have to wait for these to come along. I’m a new conversation to a total meltdown. interested in (and in awe of) Deborah Eisen- berg and Alice Munro in particular, who do novelistic things with stories. I’m hoping I get a chance to work that way more. You set much of the novel in the Your last novel, “Carry the One,” OCTOBER 2019 Newcity very specific world of set design turned out to be a bestseller, a for theater. How did that come well-deserved success for a veteran about and how did you set about writer. What was that like? How did researching that universe? your life change? I always like to give my protagonists It wasn’t like I bought my friends Cadillacs interesting work and I love doing the and flew to Memphis for peanut butter and research. This time I read a ton, then jelly sandwiches. The money was a modest interviewed set designers. I took a New influx. The biggest thing for me was finally York Times tour of backstage Broadway, gaining a wider readership. For a long time which gave me a visceral sense of the I’d thought many more people might enjoy renewable pleasure of getting up on a my work if they were aware of its existence, stage and putting on a show. and that turned out to be true. I’m hoping that continues but you never can tell. You’re a master of extremely believ- able, fairly ordinary urban charac- Carol Anshaw will discuss “Right after ters—I feel like I know them. But in the Weather” with Jane Hamilton on the last two books, their ordinary October 3 at the Swedish American lives have been reshaped by traumatic Museum at 7pm and with Sara Levine on personal events. How do you go October 16 at Unabridged Books at 7pm. 69

Music Newcity OCTOBER 2019 ImFpueturfreect When someday—assuming that we When the band went on hiatus in 2016, make it to “someday” on this fraying, it was a loss for Australia and anyone else in The Apocalyptic ecologically devastated Earth—someone the global musical audience who had the Post-punk Funk makes a movie about our time, what bands good sense to be paying attention. Sensing of Tropical Fuck Storm will be best suited for its soundtrack? the opportunity for a next chapter, Liddiard and Kitschin decided to take their already By Anne K. Ream & R. Clifton Spargo We think the post-apocalyptic acid punk of out-there instincts farther into the avant-garde, Tropical Fuck Storm is a must-include on any enlisting singer-guitarist Erica Dunn of Harmo- 70 decent list. ny and drummer Lauren Hummel of High Tension to form Tropical Fuck Storm. In a Vice In their active engagement with political interview Dunn would recall the pitch she got currents—including the destructive force of by phone from Liddiard and Kitschin: “Do you late capitalism, the imperialistic reaches of the want to play guitar? We’re just going to do United States and an ever-emergent China, some weird shit.” and these oh-so-environmentally disastrous times—Tropical Fuck Storm is a band that Mission accomplished, the band hit the road is as timely as we could wish they weren’t. in 2017 and released their debut record, They aren’t believers in past, present or future. “A Laughing Death in Meatspace,” in 2018, They aren’t believers, period. There’s little easily one of the finest albums of last year. respite in the worlds their songs portray, just the desperate dignity of truth-telling. One of the qualities that sets Tropical Fuck Storm apart from their peers and often This indie Aussie supergroup is the brainchild formidable influences, such as Captain of Gareth Liddiard and Fiona Kitschin, key Beefheart, Birthday Party-era Nick Cave and members of the post-punk acid blues band even early Talking Heads, is their commitment that was the Drones. In Australia, that descrip- to building songs on the weirdest possible tion would require no gloss. The Drones were beats. It’s not so much a feature as a founda- at the cutting edge of the country’s indie rock tional premise of the band. The challenge, scene during the aughts and early part of the as Liddiard described it in an interview, was present decade. Their sound was raw but at all costs to “Get away from four on the often languorous, steeped in distorted jams, floor, classic John Bonham.” The songs on mining the hurts of Australian history to “A Laughing Death in Meatspace” defy rhythm, devastating effect. tear it down, and then find it anew elsewhere.

They’re groovy in a way that catches vocal lead, with Kitschin’s blending the blues by surprise and shifts it to an backup, their voices come together in an almost childlike plea, one part alternate, heretofore-unheard tempo MUSIC TOP 5 ominous, one part escapist. In the that picks up and winds down at will. era of CCTV, drones and omnipresent In “Braindrops,” the band’s 2019 technology that we embrace with little release, there are fresh signs of the critical reflection, the question asked 1 Gus Dapperton. Metro. The Brooklyn-based indie pop star restlessness that brought Tropical is who, exactly, is controlling you? tours his first studio album, “Where Polly People Go to Read,” which Fuck Storm into existence. Putting the cloaks verbose pondering on Gen Z funk back into their fuck, Liddiard and “The Planet of Straw Men,” with its loneliness behind bouncy drum company have deliberately upped the nod to Bob Marley, is funkier and more machine bedroom beats. October 4 tempo, singing sly of the beats, crafting full-on fun than any other track on the record. The ear-pleasing sound notwith- a record that is almost alt-hit worthy standing, the planet being sung about is (which is clearly not a band goal). heading toward virtual ruin, occupied by The title track issues the album’s a citizenry addicted to online antago- clearest thematic statement. Its jittery, nism (“Their only purpose is to disagree/ danceable-if-you’re-high, hip-hop blues And do it publicly”) and enamored of celebrities whose twitter feeds fuel layers Liddiard’s vocals over off-kilter, 2 Madonna. Chicago Theatre. minor-key notes. “Braindrops” can feel illusions of intimacy (“They think they’re Whether it’s Diplo, Quavo, Swae ethereal, thanks to the sweetly bombing gonna fuck a movie star”). Liddiard’s Lee, or whichever hyper-relevant lyrics make it clear, however, that our personality she decides to collaborate B-52s-styled harmonies of Dunn and with, it’s clear that Madonna shows no Kitschin. Liddiard could be angsting on digital devices are “radiating more of a signs of kicking back in her stardom. loneliness than a visible light.” In other She’s still here to give a heck of a an everyday hangover when he sings show. There are six dates, no excuses. words, we’re drawn to that which also “Get Up. Get Up Now!” But clearly his October 15-17, 21, 23-24 perspective is darker and larger, as he reflects some inner lack in us. riffs on a tram driver working for “shit And because one fucked-up world wages,” soccer mommies buying beauty on credit, and “cam girls” who isn’t enough, Tropical Fuck Storm even goes sci-fi on us. The interconnected fake desire for men they’ll never see, acoustic tracks “Maria 62” and “Maria and likely wouldn’t want to. 63” riff on the legend of occult medium The drifting, ironic nostalgia of the Maria Orsic, whose 1930s visions of soprano harmonies—“I remember a superior Aryan beings were said to have time when life was simple like a glass won her the favor of Hitler, and other 3 Shintaro Sakamoto. Subterranean. Described as of water”—are juxtaposed against the times thought to have cost her her life the “Japanese Todd Rundgren” after at the hands of the Nazis. The song his do-everything-yourself approach sad fate of seeing ourselves through to the studio and eclectic influences, imagines a Maria who fled to Argentina, the Tokyo-grown underground cult crystal clear bathroom mirrors, as star plays a rare handful of U.S. dates. though lost in some endless funhouse as many Nazis did after the war, only to be tracked down by a Mossad agent October 18 of Baudrillard’s imagining. The French theorist promised us an era of simula- obsessed with his prey and enchanted cra and the states of blurred reality and by what he wishes to bring to an end. unreality inseparable from the designs “Maria 62” opens with lyrics as lovely as of late capitalism. It’s the simplification any you’ll find in the band’s body of of the world into endlessly outsourced work: “It’s 3am, the wind is weak and warm/ A seagull swoops, the moon commercialism, a place both digital anchored offshore/ You’re like a dream and literal where to have is to be. We in which I have not slept for weeks/ want the real thing, the Ray-Bans, the newest iPhone, but once we know it’s And I’ve been sending a search party all a game, we might as well settle for after every word you speak.” But this 4 Kero Kero Bonito. The Vic. the knock-offs. “How far you are from is not a love story, and Marie’s allure is The neon-clad group behind a metaphor for the seemingly timeless “Flamingo,” the 2014 viral hit that made knowing your own heart?” Liddiard seafood allergies danceable, continue sings, as he envisions with Baudrillard- appeal of fascism, which rises, falls, to experiment with genre-pushing pop, and rises again, even in our times. and their live show promises more ian clarity a long future of searching thoughtful quirk. October 17 Liddiard is taking his satiric stabs, to for an authenticity that is perishing be sure, but he’s also riding out a inside our nostalgic longing for it. dystopian fantasy that would be stupid Throughout “Braindrops,” Tropical Fuck if today’s neo-Nazis and fascism-in- Storm often takes on the role of hidden clined idiots didn’t keep falling for dangerous and sick ideas. camera, recording the most damning aspects of our culture and playing In the end, what makes Tropical Fuck 5 Sleater-Kinney. Riviera. The indie mainstays tour their St. them back to us in brutally honest Vincent-produced “The Center Won’t OCTOBER 2019 Newcity songs. “Who’s My Eugene” is inspired Storm as vital as they are unsettling is Hold,” which tackles the perils of our by Beach Boy Brian Wilson’s controver- how well their songs, which often seem modern world with tenacity and wit, chaotic, fractured, and as brutal as the never missing an opportunity to rock sial psychotherapist Eugene Landy, out. October 18 subjects they consider, speak to the who played a key role in destroying currents of our contemporary worry. Wilson’s will to live and capacity to They’re making a strange sort of create. The song might begin as a fly on the therapist’s wall. But the sad story musical magic, to be sure. But they’re of Wilson at its center is also a question also demanding that we confront a about what kinds of influence we’ve all world where change isn’t necessarily given ourselves to. As Dunn takes the gonna come. 71

Stage The queens of Lips Chicago /Photo: Kyle Flubacker Newcity OCTOBER 2019 Serving If you took The Birdcage nightclub, the Chicago location is Lamé’s most Looks combined it with the glitz of “La glammed-out drag show palace yet. and Tables Cage,” threw in themed menus, opulent The Motor Row location is more than three lighting, eight-foot-long chandeliers and years in the making and made its debut in A National Drag Dining Franchise more disco balls than you can count, August in the shell of an old Ford dealership. Comes to Chicago you still wouldn’t get close to the total lavishness of Lips Chicago. For local queens like Victoria Le Paige, By Amanda Finn Lips couldn’t have arrived fast enough. “The walls are covered with quilted With friends working at locations elsewhere 72 leopard fabric, gilded with sconces and in the country, Le Paige has been waiting pretty little rhinestone buttons,” owner for Chicago’s own Lips since the plans Yvonne Lamé says during the location’s were announced. first-ever Sunday brunch. “The minute you walk in, it’s like an explosion of color And what drew Le Paige to Lips? The glitz and just very visually over the top.” and the glam, of course. Chicago is the fifth location of the Lips “We have been anticipating this for over franchise. Lamé’s first location opened in three years,” says Le Paige. “And it’s finally New York City twenty-three years ago and here. I have girlfriends that work in Lips

Atlanta and they were telling us bearded queens to ever work for STAGE TOP 5 it’s coming to Chicago. It’s coming. any of the Lips locations. And so It’s coming. And we waited and for them to let me represent my waited and waited and now it’s style of drag is really fun and finally here and the whole city is awesome and I’m so honored to very excited.” be a part of it.” Le Paige wasn’t alone in wanting Since the Lips Chicago website 1 The Brothers Size. Steppenwolf for to be part of the Chicago location. has an entire section on bachelor- Young Adults. In a fierce and honest According to Lamé, over a hundred ette parties, it seemed fair to ask look at the complex bonds of brotherhood, people came to audition for Lips JerFay about if or where bachelor- Tarell Alvin McCraney (“Moonlight”) weaves and at least fifty had to be turned ettes fit into this space. There poetry, music and Yoruba mythology to away because they only had so has been a divide in the queer magnify the tug-of-war between freedom much time to get through community for some time about and the need to belong somewhere, to auditions. There are roughly bachelorettes taking over gay something, to someone. Opens October 4 twenty-five drag queens employed spaces. The short answer? JerFay at Lips who rotate throughout hates that perception. Because 2 Mosquitoes. Steep Theatre. the week. drag isn’t about impersonating High-energy particle beams and or mocking women, it’s about ideology collide travel in Lucy Kirkwood’s And this isn’t your typical drag celebrating them. So everyone intergenerational examination of the queen gig, either. These queens should be welcome in the space. gulf between decisions and their aren’t just serving looks and talent, consequences. Opens October 4 they’re also serving your tables. “We’re celebrating femininity and They pull double duty between womanhood, so why are they not 3 Twice, Thrice, Frice. Silk Road waiting tables, serving the drinks allowed to come celebrate that Rising. Three Muslim women and performing. Countering a with us?” JerFay says. “I think it’s confront adultery and polygamy when concern that doing so much while a very important thing that we one of their husbands marries a second dolled up and decked out would embrace that. Plus, a lot of the wife. Friendship, fidelity and faith are mean a high turnover rate, Lamé time, they’re the ones who sponsor called into question as each woman says that while there may be and support us the most, because reevaluates bonds once believed temporary burnout from time to a lot of us queer people are out unbreakable, and discovers humor time, there are queens who have here with broke-ass homes and no amid the heartbreak. Opens October 13 worked for Lips since its inception. money to pay our bills. And then These are coveted gigs and the we have these people coming in 4 Sugar in Our Wounds. First Floor folks who work them love them. and supporting us and loving Theater. Part of playwright Donja what we do and loving that we’re R. Love’s trilogy of black love at pivotal “In the restaurant business, you expressing ourselves in a way that moments in history, helmed by Mikael expect turnover,” admits Lamé, also expresses them. So I don’t Burke, director of last season’s acclaimed a longtime drag performer himself. like that opinion at all and I don’t production of “Hooded, Or Being Black “But the one thing in regards to appreciate it. That’s another reason for Dummies.” Opens October 19 Lips is [that] a lot of people stay I’m proud to work here. I love it.” because the girls make enough 5 Kentucky. The Gift Theatre. In the OCTOBER 2019 Newcity working here that they don’t While the queens refer to their local premiere of the play by Leah have to have other jobs. I’ve had homebase as Disneyland and Nanako Winkler (“Two Mile Hollow”), Hiro queens in New York that have Versailles, Lips is a palace far returns home to stop the wedding of her been with me for twenty-three beyond anything else like it. It twenty-year-old, born-again Christian years, in San Diego twenty years. is a place of joy and exploration, sister and salvage her future at all costs. With each location [there are] bottomless mimosa brunches and people who have been there Broadway-themed evenings. It is a Opens October 20 since the beginning.” place where drag queens and their fans can revel in the pageantry of For some, Lips is the opportunity the moment while celebrating life. to further a young career. While there are queens employed with “Expect a full, gay, queer experi- the franchise who have decades of ence,” says JerFay. “[You’re] going performance under their sequins to come in and be served by the and velvet, there are others who performers. It’s all interactive, even are new to the field. One such if the performers don’t even leave queen is JerFay, who will celebrate the stage, because they’ve been their four-year drag anniversary on working with you all night and October 26. JerFay has a theater you get that familiarity. And then, background and, after tiring of the because a lot of people that come scene, decided to give drag a try. here are with bachelorette parties, Inspired by fellow queen Lucy or birthday parties, or people Stool, JerFay aspires to be a queen bringing their families who don’t who combines masculinity and go out in the scene a lot, it’s a femininity. Because drag queens chance for them to experience can be fabulous with a beard, too. something to the ten. It’s kind of what you would see at a club, “I am so honored that they’re but an overproduction of it. letting in a bearded queen,” says It’s something that we all have JerFay. “I believe I’m one of two always dreamed of doing.” 73

Newcity OCTOBER 2019 Life is BeautifulBy David Alvarado 74

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MADE YOU LOOK 1. FRI, OCT 25, 7–8 PM OCT 26, 2019–JAN 26, 2020 THU, OCT 31, 7–11 PM TALK: PATTI SMITH WITH DIRECT MESSAGE: ART, BAD FEMME: HALLOWEEN LYNN GOLDSMITH LANGUAGE, AND POWER DOUBLE FEATURE Explore how artists across gen- Drag queens Kat Sass and Siichele Two iconic artists discuss their erations interrogate the ways host an art house horror double new book and offer glimpses language shapes our experience feature of Suspiria (1977) and into a defining moment in and understanding of the world. Possesion (1981) for a Halloween music and performance history. night that’s sure to be a scream. MUSEUM OF MCA CONTEMPORARY ART FREE FOR YOUTH 18 AND UNDER CHICAGO OPEN UNTIL 9 PM TUESDAYS AND FRIDAYS mcachicago.org/look #MCAMADEYOULOOK Kat Sass. Photo: Roger Morales, courtesy of the artist.