Newcity Chicago April 2020

quaint. In the cutting APRIL 2020 Newcity edge of his time, however, it’s not difficult to see the influence of a Mondrian or Buckminster Fuller, of an attempt to unearth some background against which design might intercede with and offer panaceas to the realities of modern life. As editor at Popular Science until 1972, Isaacs found a ready platform for the transmission of his ideas into the public, where they were celebrated and reproduced in the pages of other major mainstream publications such as Life, Look, The New York Times, eventually landing him an appearance on the Tonight Show. Isaacs' ideas have an array of precursors in notions of the total work of art going back through Wagner’s \"Gesamtkunstwerk,\" for instance, and throughout much European Modernism, which sought to reunite the artistic disciplines and repair its social function. Devised by Isaacs, the matrix system was presented as “also part of a lexicon of terms, including ‘culture breaker,’ ‘Living Structure,’ and elsewhere ‘alpha chamber'\" that interrelated and somewhat interchangeable, yet all committed to the idea of creating a \"total environment\" or \"total design.\" This came to include his designs for the “Home in a Cube” that appeared in the October 11, 1954 issue of Life magazine, a “Chicago Living Structure,” which integrated household utilities such as table surfaces, a sleeping loft, book and tool storage into a single wooden frame, all seventy-two of them “bolted in a non-collapsing joint at the corners.” This was the basis for a series of “Living Structures” Isaacs used to reformulate just about every diverse form of environment where people live and work, culminating in projects including his Alpha Chambers and Knowledge Boxes, a further innovation resulting from a later fascination with the films of Jean-Luc Godard, and adapted to function as visual learning environments. Integral to an unfolding of architectural innovation from his first efforts in the early 1950s, Isaacs has also been placed in the context of antecedents to Postmodernist architecture and Supermannerism, his collaborations with such collectives as Ant Farm were also pioneering social art experiments. Encapsulating a broad practice across decades of innovation, it’s no doubt the artist and designer would look on the work done by Snodgrass and Half Letter as a worthwhile and meaning- ful addition to his life, work and the art and design history it served to transform. \"Inside the Matrix: The Radical Designs of Ken Isaacs,\" Susan Sno- dgrass, Half Letter Press, paperback, $15. 51

D&rDininkiinngg Classic Chicago hot dog will be at Da Best Fest, photo David Hammond The Real Taste so many ways.” John T. Edge, winner of the of Chicago M. F. K. Fisher writing award from the James Beard Foundation and director of the Original Chicago Foods You've Never Heard Of Southern Foodways Alliance, visited Fat Johnnie’s, ate a Mother-in-Law, and declared By David Hammond that he loved it. The assessments by Bourdain and Edge are not mutually exclusive. Newcity APRIL 2020 Deep dish pizza, Italian beef, Chicago hot has been housed in what is lovingly referred The Mother-in-Law is an odd culinary creation dog. The original Chicago food triumvirate to as “the shack.” This tumbledown wooden with a devoted following and an equal comprises our most well-known city building, with hand-painted signage and number of people who look upon it with specialties. They’re what people feel they menu, looks like it was hit by a hurricane; disbelief and dread. must try when they visit the city. there are few right angles on the grubby white structure, which has a sloping wooden Flaming Saganaki There are many other Chicago original foods, awning in front. It does not look like the most The word “saganaki” comes from the Greek some of which you likely have never enjoyed. promising place to grab lunch. It is, however, word for a small pan with two handles: sagani. Here are just a few of the Chicago original a landmark of Chicago food greatness, as the Foods cooked in this small pan become foods that few tourists arrive to Chicago home of the Mother-in-Law, a Chicago corn saganaki (-aki is a diminutive suffix in Greek, expecting to sample, usually because they roll tamale in a hot dog bun, covered in chili, like the “y” of Davey or Danny). There are don’t know these tempting foods exist. dressed like a dragged-through-the-garden many types of saganaki, including scallop Chicago hot dog. When Anthony Bourdain saganaki and shrimp saganaki. In Chicago, Mother-in-Law came to Chicago, one of his stops was Fat saganaki means basically one thing: Cheese. Since 1972, Fat Johnnie’s Famous Red Hots Johnnie’s, where he chomped into a Flaming cheese. Where it was invented is in Marquette Park on Chicago’s South Side Mother-in-Law and pronounced it “Wrong in debatable. Standing in line outside Dianna’s Opaa (212 South Halsted) in Greektown in the mid-1970s, you’d have seen owner and host Petros Kogiones working the line, shaking the hands of men, kissing the ladies, 52

offering everyone a complimentary shot of According to owner Gina Capitanini, \"The DINING & DRINKING APRIL 2020 Newcity ouzo. Once inside Kogiones’ restaurant, information is vague as to if my grandfather TOP 5 you’d see him dancing, sometimes balancing invented Chicken Vesuvio. I was told it’s a a water glass on his head, randomly shouting dish that he brought over from Italy, and when As of presstime, cancellations and program “opaa!” He was a powerful self-promoter, and he opened his restaurant in 1927, he put it on changes in response to the Coronavirus have according to him, the inventor of Saganaki. his menu. Our Chicken Vesuvio has never begun, so please check with individual venues The other vocal claimant to the title “Origina- had peas on it and many other restaurants on current status. tor of Flaming Saganaki” is The Parthenon use peas. The name Vesuvio stems from this (314 South Halsted), and most who write on dish being so flavorful it bursts in your mouth.“ 1 Eighth Annual Logan Square the topic of saganaki side with The Parthe- Chef's Dinner. Lula. Jason Hamel non’s version of the origin story. In “Lost Corn Roll Tamale hosts other local chefs, including Abe Restaurants of Chicago,” Greg Borzo A key component of the Mother-in-Law, Conlon, Leonard Hollander and recognizes that “The bygone Parthenon… is Chicago corn roll tamales are made of corn Matthias Merges, in a benefit for widely credited with inventing in 1968 the meal and lightly seasoned meat. The two Comfort Station, the multidisciplinary flaming saganaki and ‘Opa’ [sic] custom.” largest local producers are Supreme Tamale art space in Logan Square. April 6 Wherever the dish originated, it is now one of and Tom Tom Tamale. These yellow cornmeal Chicago’s culinary gifts to the world. tamales are sold by Italian beef or hot dog 2 Chicago Wine Fest Spring vendors, explaining why the product stars in Edition. Lincoln Park Zoo. The Shrimp DeJonghe the Mother-in-Law at Fat Johnnie’s. Accord- festival with everything you like: good Shrimp DeJonghe is such a simple dish— ing to the Southern Foodways Alliance, the wine, food and music, in a casual, shrimp, breadcrumbs, butter and garlic—that tamale was brought to the United States by unpretentious atmosphere. April 16 it may have been invented in the Mediterra- Mexican workers who may have taken a few nean long before it was on the menu around tamales in their pockets as they went off to 3 Da Best Fest. UIC Dorin Forum. the turn of the twentieth century at the work in the fields. In those fields, specifically Classic foods synonymous with DeJonghe Hotel and Restaurant (12 East in the Mississippi Delta, Mexicans would have Chicago—Italian beef, deep-dish pizza, Monroe). As with chicken Vesuvio, which has encountered African Americans and, perhaps, the Chicago hot dog—will be served in led to dishes such as steak Vesuvio and pork shared their tamales. Although tamales have their original form and interpreted by Vesuvio, there are many variations on the been a staple of Chicago street-food culture some of Chicago’s finest chefs. classic shrimp DeJonghe recipe, and it’s not for around a century, one could not make a April 17 uncommon to discover lobster or crab strong argument for the deliciousness of the DeJonghe. Some variations of the traditional corn roll tamale. In a blind taste test, a taster 4 Wingfest. Credit Union Arena. dish even show up in places like Red Lobster. would likely be stymied to distinguish Annual gathering of wing-men There’s no denying it: garlic and butter between the outer layer of corn meal and the and -women who enjoy the most complement fruits of the sea. At Hugo’s Frog meat interior. But for lifelong Chicagoans, the delicate part of everyone’s favorite fowl, Bar & Fish House (1024 North Rush), chef Chicago tamale carries powerful nostalgic prepared by Chicago’s most Russell Kook prepares a traditional version of power, and these humble, inexpensive corn accomplished wing masters. April 18 shrimp DeJonghe. This is the right dish to rolls are good for filling up the last bit of belly serve at Hugo’s, says Kook, “because we space after consuming a far meatier hot dog 5 Somm Madness. want to serve food that fits the surroundings. or Italian beef sandwich. Radius Chicago. Drink and eat We have an old-school space, and we want at a Tailgate Tasting of over 400 wines our food to reflect the atmosphere.” Shrimp Da Best Fest and food from places like Prime & DeJonghe, Kook tells us, is a “big favorite On April 17 at UIC’s Dorin Forum (725 Provisions and Siena Tavern, then with customers, who appreciate the tradition. Roosevelt), Seth Zurer and the guys who watch sommeliers from around the When they’re eating Shrimp DeJonghe, brought you Baconfest are launching Da Best world put their palates on the line in a they’re eating Chicago history.” Fest, what they describe as “a celebration of blind tasting for a $10,000 prize. Chicago’s culinary heritage, a chef tasting April 19 Chicken Vesuvio festival that explores the iconic dishes of the Chicken Vesuvio is a colorful name that sug- city, with traditional and imaginative versions gests Mount Vesuvius, the volcano that of the classics created by the city’s best destroyed Pompeii with a shower of fire and chefs.” Chef Oliver Poilevey of Le Bouchon ash. Must be spicy hot, right? No, there is plans to make a “Frenchified version of a no hint of heat in the traditional chicken Mother-in-Law,” perhaps, he says, with foie Vesuvio, which it’s generally accepted was gras mixed into the chili and duck meat in the not named after the volcano but rather after tamale. “I remember having the Mother-in- Chicago’s long-gone Vesuvio Restaurant Law as a kid,” says Poilevey, “and I thought (15 East Wacker). A hearty meal of roasted that with a good chili and a good tamale, it chicken and potato wedges, and some- could be very good.” times peas, Chicken Vesuvio may be the most popular of all Chicago original dishes, All the Chicago original foods featured at Da found on menus across the country and Best Fest, and a few dozen or so more, will even around the world. Italian Village (71 be featured in a book to be published by West Monroe), Chicago’s oldest Italian University of Illinois Press, written by me and restaurant, also claims to be the birthplace Monica Eng, WBEZ reporter and one of the of Chicken Vesuvio. finest food journalists in Chicago. 53

Film Photo: Ray Pride Newcity APRIL 2020 Oh Logo You have to start somewhere. readily amused in those days but it was also around the time we’d witnessed a double The Promise of Quality A friend made a 16mm faux-trailer in college feature in a director-as-author class of Ingmar for an apocryphal film from the French Bergman’s “Persona” and Jerry Lewis’ By Ray Pride filmmakers Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle “Nutty Professor.” Any mash-up seemed Huillet, starring Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis and possible (even avant la lettre of “mash-ups”), 54 Marlon Brando. You might not have heard of and dialectics were everywhere. it: “The Patriarch, the Plebeian and the Penis.” The silent white-on-blue white-on-black The couple’s austere camera style was part or white-on-pastel New Yorker logo that of the send-up, and there was a critic’s quote: accompanied movies like Wim Wenders’ “A one-of-a-kind film… may be the best of its “The American Friend” is forever married in kind ever made.” (Which I used years later in my memory to the low hiss and crackle of film review.) a well-distressed 16mm optical soundtrack (which was incorporated into the short’s sound The best joke to our callow young eyes, if mix). The idea of a Christmas promo from the title didn’t have you rolling in the aisles the now-defunct company still makes me right off, was the credit up top, with a logo smile (and wince, too). familiar from scritch-scratchy 16mm prints of movies we’d rented for the university film Among the elements surrounding movies societies, with one addendum: “Coming that adhere to the inside of my head, including for Christmas from New Yorker Films.” running times, title designs and end credits are these tiny movies that start the movies. We’d just watched Werner Herzog’s “Even “Presentation treatments” and “motion Dwarfs Started Small,” which was then graphics”: those seven-to-fifteen second distributed by that art-house distributor fanfares that accompany the names of the when the notion bubbled up. We were distributor and co-producers and financiers

have always given me a small, truly New kids on the block, small but not that FILM TOP 5 inexplicable rush, on films old or new, no small, have worked the show side, with crafty matter how many play in a row. It’s mi- marketing and promotional materials, as well As of presstime, cancellations and cro-branding, as well as an assertion of as their eye for the movies themselves, of program changes in response to the ownership, vanity and pride. The companies quality, quirk and occasional quicksand. The Coronavirus have begun, so please check that mostly deal in money can compound big guys would be Amazon Studios, Netflix and with individual venues on current status. a fever dream of successive logos, many Apple; the smaller players with graphic gusto of which are wretchedly designed trash, would be Annapurna Pictures, A24 and Neon. 1 Pandora And The Flying rather than iconic like the Columbia Pictures Dutchman. Siskel. Digital figure of a draped woman holding a torch, Apple’s new media brand is an extension 4K restoration of one of cine- or the Universal Pictures logo girdling the of the materials for the corporation’s other matographer Jack Cardiff’s most globe to soaring music, or perhaps the products. Netflix releases? A rapid splay of gorgeous films, in the act of most memorable, the now-altered Twentieth brightly colored lines, like a curtain of light capturing Ava Gardner. April Century Fox logo with the cocky Alfred or the spines of a vinyl collection. Amazon 24-29 Newman fanfare. (Recent purchaser Studios’ animated logo creates a pop-up Disney renamed the company Twentieth book racing through a city as it is built in 2 Vitalina Varela. Siskel. Century Studios and Fox Searchlight is rapid motion (presumably with products First Chicago run of Pedro now Searchlight Pictures.) delivered by Amazon) before arriving at an Costa’s latest portrait of migrants, old-fashioned cinema with a huge marquee. faces, shadows, sunlight. April Studio pictures sometimes stuff one or 24-30 more of these onto the end of the end So far, so plain. Annapurna Pictures suggests credits, but “indie” films and movies financed a mountain, such as one the company is 3 Nomad: In the Footsteps by several nations can fill the screen for a named after, and the Paramount logo, too. of Bruce Chatwin. Music long time (a breath of a moment that There’s a shimmer to it as well, as if tracking Box. Werner Herzog sets out on a journey to recollect the life and composers surely love). Movies from India, on a VHS deck were off. The light blurring passions of his late friend, the APRIL 2020 Newcity China, Hong Kong and South Korea often of the image suggests an eye test. Focus writer-adventurer Bruce Chatwin. burst with a cornucopia of erratically, even Features’ longtime logo also punned visually ineptly designed and compiled logos. on “focus,” included words coming out of 4 In Spring. Chicago Film blur with a fanfare like an orchestra tuning Society at Music Box. Traditionally, American studio system logos up and street sounds and voices. Mikhail Kaufman’s 1929 silent, promised work in genres that the studio a portrait of Kyiv through the specialized in and even disreputable Z-grade A24, named after an Italian motorway, takes seasons; Georges Sadoul called studios made the effort to shine, for those the Annapurna video sizzle further: seven it a “new form, [a] cine-poem.” few front-end seconds, even if the MGM lion seconds of lines like light beams, coruscating 35mm. April 4 roared louder and the Paramount mountain across the frame with shards of chroma, would always be more monumental. assembling into the company’s 1940s 5 Saint Maud. A24 brands United Artists in the 1970s displayed clean, Italianate letterforms. The best part of the itself as the new home for corporate-style logos but under that umbrella NEON intro? The word: NEON in bright… stylish horror, promoting “Saint promised both high art and exploitation. red… neon. Maud,” about a hospice nurse bent on saving the soul of a Of the handful of major Hollywood studios Do any of these handfuls of seconds hold patient, as in the tradition of still standing—as of mid-March as 2020’s any literal meaning? Is it simply a seductive “Hereditary” and last year’s range of cinema closures worldwide takes sensation scrupulously planned and “Midsommar.” Opens April 1 hold, endangering the industry’s very fashioned and tested? Even without the survival—the Disney portfolio of logos holds hiss and crackle and pop of celluloid prints, the least iconic magic: the bouncing Pixar a few seconds of motion or transformation, lamp; the flip-flip-flip of comic book pages a few notes of music, slippery sound design: of the Marvel movies; the 1970s-style the pact is sealed. Here we are, serene and faux-frontier lettering of Lucasfilm. These confident: the pictures that follow are, of feel more from the business side than the course, another story altogether. Always show side of show business. time for a new beginning. 55

Live at The Book Cellar 164 North State Street • Between Lake & Randolph Andrea Bartz The Kates! Sara Paretsky VIRAL: “The Herd” with April 10 and “Dead Land” ANTISEMITISM IN Jeanette Andrews April 25, 7pm April 21, 11:30am at FOUR MUTATIONS April 2, 7pm Union League Club Sahar Mustafah APRIL 3-9 Tall Grass Jason Rosenthal First Chicago run! Writer’s Guild “The Beauty of Your Director Andrew Goldberg Face” in conversation “My Wife Said You May Q&A via Skype Friday, presents with Christine Rice Want to Marry Me” April 8, 8 pm! “Springtime Blooms” April 11, 6pm April 22, 7pm at April 3, 7pm Everybody’s Coffee CHICAGO PREMIERE! Local Author Night: Adi Alsaid Poetry Edition Kim Oclon THE BOOKSELLERS “We Didn’t Ask featuring Robert “Man Up” Launch Party For This” McDonald, Jenene April 23, 7pm APRIL 17-23 April 7, 7pm Ravesloot, Jamie Wendt, Arne Weingart StoryStudio Movie Club discussion Max Barry and Ann Hudson Chicago Thursday, April 23, 6 pm! April 15, 7pm “Providence” Student and BUY TICKETS NOW at April 8, 7pm Chicago Young Faculty Reading www.siskelfilmcenter.org Adult Book Festival April 24, 7pm Rita Nabais and Joana Raimundo April 18, beginning Independent at 10am at Hamilton Bookstore Day “The History of Rock: Elementary School For Big Fans and April 25, 10am Little Punks” Essay Fiesta! April 9, 7pm April 20, 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 APRIL 2020 56

Lit LIT TOP 5 Left to right: Tom Flynn, Some of Chicago’s greatest assets APRIL 2020 Newcity Mandy Medley and Katharine reside in its independent bookstores. As of presstime, cancellations and program Solheim at Pilsen Community Beyond their geographic spread on the North, changes in response to the Coronavirus have Books/Photo: Steel Brooks West and South Sides, they also support begun, so please check with individual venues each other. Pilsen Community Books is a part on current status. Lay of of that extended community. The bookstore the Land opened in 2016 under the leadership of Mary 1 Krista Franklin’s “Too Much Gibbons and her business partner Aaron Midnight.” The Promontory. Relaunching Lippelt, but when Gibbons and Lippelt Haymarket Books hosts this release Pilsen Community Books announced that they would be selling the party to celebrate Krista Franklin’s store to focus their efforts on The Dial poetry collection featuring both her By Tara Betts bookstore downtown in 2019, customers words and visual art. April 8 and other booksellers alike wondered about the fate of the store on 18th Street. 2 Samantha Irby’s “Wow, No Thank You” Book Launch. Wilson Abbey. Samantha Irby in conversation with Megan Stielstra about Irby’s latest collection of humorous essays. April 14 3 Rachel DeWoskin’s “Two Menus.” Seminary Co-op Bookstores. Rachel DeWoskin in conversation with poet Rosanna Warren about her new poetry collection. April 22 4 Rebecca Solnit and Eula Biss. Wilson Abbey. Rebecca Solnit discusses her forthcoming memoir “Recollections of My Nonexistence.” April 23 5 2020 ChiTeen Lit Fest. Chicago Cultural Center and Columbia College Chicago. The annual festival kicks off with an opening party on Friday at the Chicago Cultural Center with opportunities for teen writers (ages thirteen to nineteen). April 24-25 57

Luckily, Tom Flynn, Mandy Medley and collaborations with other local businesses essential for readers interested in the ways Katharine Solheim—three experienced in the works. We’re also looking forward to that literature actively engages with the big booksellers who have worked throughout continuing the Pilsen Reads program, the questions of our time. I also love to recom- Chicago—undertook the task of buying the book giveaway program with the mission mend lesser-known, excellent reissues store, and they plan to keep its doors open. to promote literacy through access to books. from Feminist Press like Agnes Smedley’s This interview is just an introduction to what The response from the community has been “Daughter of Earth” and the feminist sci- the ambitious trio is working on. very warm, and folks are excited that the ence-fiction classic Suzette Haden Elgin’s bookstore will stay in the neighborhood. “Native Tongue” series. Could you talk about how you decided to partner up and become owners of What are the most exciting elements What have been some of your biggest Pilsen Community Books? about bookselling? challenges with starting anew in an established space? All three of us have spent our entire adult lives Meeting, engaging with, and learning working in books—Tom at Volumes Bookcafe, from readers. There’s nothing quite like the Getting the lay of the land. We’re getting 57th Street and Seminary Co-op, Katharine at serendipity of books talking to one another to know every book that is in the store by Unabridged and Barnes & Noble, and Mandy on the shelf and that moment when readers— seeing what’s here and putting our hands on at the University of Georgia Library, Powell’s store employees, customers, authors, the every title. We’re also spending time figuring Chicago, Unabridged and Coffee House Press. community at large—notice that conversation out what folks in the neighborhood want to All three of us have always dreamed of owning and begin one of their own. read and making sure we have those titles our own shop. Katharine and Tom both on hand for them. approached Aaron and Mary at the same time In my opinion, one of the best things about buying the store, and we decided to about independent book stores is the Are there any special events that you’re combine years of experience and unique skill art of the hand sell. What books do excited about for the store? sets and go in on the store together. you recommend to customers? We already have a packed events schedule, How have people in the neighborhood Tom: I really like to push smaller press titles. and we’re excited about all of them. We have responded to the bookstore now It really is our job, I think, to help champion two events in April related to reproductive that you’ve started to do outreach to books coming from indie and small presses justice—Jenny Brown’s “Without Apology” schools and the larger community? that exist out of the same passion we possess. on April 20 and “Choice Words: Writers on We are still introducing ourselves to the Abortion” on April 23. We’re also excited for neighborhood. Many regular customers have Mandy: I agree—I consider Myriam Gurba’s a couple of literature in translation events, for come in to say hello and welcome, which has “Mean,” Valeria Luiselli’s “Tell Me How It Ends,” Jazmina Barrera’s “On Lighthouses” on May 8 been great and exciting, and we have a few and all of the poetry that Haymarket publishes and Sara Mesa’s “Four by Four” on May 12. SPRING EVENTS FROM THE POETRY FOUNDATION Newcity APRIL 2020 APR 04 | 10AM–1PM APR 23 | 7 PM Celebration Poetry off the Shelf Young People’s Poetry Day: Carl Phillips Poetry & Play with Carson Ellis LAST CHANCE This event is open only to children and their accompanying caregivers. Exhibition A.R. Ammons: Watercolors APR 09 | 7 PM Open through April 30 Poetry off the Shelf POETRY FOUNDATION Christina Pugh 61 WEST SUPERIOR STREET POETRYFOUNDATION.ORG/EVENTS APR 16 | 7 PM Poetry off the Shelf Billy Collins 58

Music Photo: John Stephen Dwyer MUSIC TOP 5 The Surreal Deal As of presstime, cancellations and program Robyn Hitchcock’s Magical Iconoclasm changes in response to the Coronavirus have begun, so please check with individual venues By Craig Bechtel on current status. The meditations that Robyn Hitchcock pedaling his white bicycle to the orphanage APRIL 2020 Newcity 1 Thom Yorke. United Center. puts to song balance the perfectly ordinary that day. The Radiohead frontman flies and the extraordinarily strange. solo, following the release last year Robyn Hitchcock deserves a deep dive into of his third album, “Anima.” April The purple-panted one topped with a shaggy his obsessions with insects and amphibians, 4—postponed gray mane dollops out surreal fantasies like cormorants and crows, yet he strings together so much gruel plopped onto a Dickensian such seeming nonsense into coherent trains 2 Liz Vice. SPACE. Vice has the orphan’s meal tray, and before one can utter, of thought, and given he often dreams of voice, and the bio of a blues “Please sir, may I have another,” he’s serving trains, it all somehow makes sense at the end singer, but sings gospel-inflected the next child in line. of another “Raymond Chandler Evening.” R&B, creating a gorgeous, hair-raising fusion. April 17 Yet there’s nothing bland or unsatisfying about On that particular bare-bones gem (from Hitchcock’s concoctions, as if they’re all 1986’s “Element of Light”) which barely 3 Sun Ra Arkestra. composed of some sort of unidentified magical exceeds the two-minute mark, Hitchcock Constellation. The idea of mushrooms the cook happened upon whilst successfully channels a detective from a programming the Arkestra’s wild, anarchic, experimental jazz on Easter Sunday is an idea of such visionary genius it can only be called religious. April 12 4 Vagabon. Old Town School of Folk Music. Cameroon-born Lætitia Tamko hits town to tour her sophomore album, which bears her alias “Vagabon.” Expect a seductive range of textures, colors and sonic intimacy. April 15 5 Porches. Thalia Hall. Singer-songwriter Aaron Maine arrives on the crest of his new album, “Ricky Music” which continues his evolution from DIY guitar rocker to synth-pop balladeer. The album’s first single is “Do U Wanna,” and is likely to prompt a collective “Yes, we do.” April 16 59

hard-boiled film noir thusly: appeared in Demme’s 2004 “There’s a body on the railings / remake of “The Manchurian That I can’t identify / And I’d like Candidate” and in “Rachel Getting Married” (2008). to reassure you / but I’m not that kind of guy.” When I saw that Robyn Hitch- What kind of guy is he? While cock was coming to town this he’s the very definition of a month (Old Town School of modern major iconoclast, Folk Music, April 23), I leapt at Hitchcock is not without his the chance to immerse myself antecedents. I’m sure he’d be in his recorded output, as if I the first to admit that his songs was inspired by a “Globe of Frogs.” I’ve loved everything could not have come to be I’ve heard by him that’s been without Syd Barrett’s bike released, but I’ve never been parked on his porch, and in a completist. I only had the his rare shouty-forte moments chance to survey portions of he channels a fellow Brit, John eleven of his twenty-one albums, Lennon, to electrifying effect. and have gotten so lost in the Hitchcock cut his teeth with proverbial weeds that I don’t the post-punk outfit The Soft recall where this particular Boys, whose 1980 album couplet hails from, but I love it: “Underwater Moonlight” is hailed “I was always in a hurry but I never know what for / Paranoia as a new-wave classic. Upon chased me out and then time the group’s breakup, band member Kimberley Rew formed just closed the door.” Katrina and The Waves (known Given that there’s such a depth best for the hit single “Walking and breadth to Hitchcock’s on Sunshine”). Since 1981, Hitchcock has piloted a lengthy recorded output, and given that it’s almost entirely brilliant, it’s career, both by himself and with The Egyptians (1985-1993) hard to know what to highlight. featuring some former Soft Boys, and then the Venus Three (2006- In March 2013, Hitchcock turned sixty and released “Love 2010), featuring Peter Buck of From London.” As he said in the R.E.M., Scott McCaughey of label’s press release, “Rock ‘n’ Young Fresh Fellows, and Bill roll is an old man’s game now, Rieflin of Ministry. so I’m staying in it.” In contrast No less an authority than the to primarily acoustic records like Trouser Press Record Guide “Spooked,” “Eye” and “I Often declared that Hitchcock’s entire Dream of Trains,” “Love From London” strikes the balance body of work “remains one of the great undiscovered treasures between full-fledged, fleshed- of modern pop music,” and that out rockers and minimalist was in the fourth edition, in 1991. ballad-like meditations. Twenty-nine years later, that’s Although he’s never lost his sadly still true. inveterate Britishness, Hitchcock Oh, sure he’s flirted with the now calls the USA home. occasional breakthrough, Five years back, he moved to achieving minor MTV airplay Nashville to be with his current (albeit mostly on “120 Minutes”), partner, Emma Swift, who is also an expatriate (originally featuring on playlists of album- hailing from Australia). They have oriented rock stations like released two singles together, Chicago’s WXRT. He’s always been a college radio darling with “Follow Your Money” in 2015 and “Love Is a Drag” in 2016, “hits” like “Balloon Man,” “Love produced by Norman Blake Madonna of the Wasps” and of Teenage Fanclub. “So You Think You’re In Love,” but his intrinsic weirdness as To conclude, let’s revisit our Newcity APRIL 2020 a lyricist has always limited his favorite hard-boiled gumshoe, commercial potential. engaging in a bit of apparent Perhaps his brightest spotlight precognition: “It’s a Raymond came when Jonathan Demme Chandler evening / And the made him the subject of a pavements are all wet / And I’m one-man concert documentary, lurking in the shadows / ‘Cause it hasn’t happened yet.” 1998’s “Storefront Hitchcock,” which might be the best introduc- tion to his charms as a live Robyn Hitchcock plays Old Town performer. Hitchcock also School of Folk Music on April 23 60

Stage 1 Cut From Her Own Cloth The Most Spectacular Designs 2 of Miss Izumi Inaba By Hayley Osborn How do you make the old new again? be a dancer. But in the schools in Japan current about the outfits. So I looked at APRIL 2020 Newcity In the world of theater, reinvention and revival you can’t really learn dance as an academic couture images, superhero costumes and a are commonplace but how do productions subject. I liked the English language and the lot of cartoons. But you know their base, their rephrase history while staying current? Enter: culture of this country, so I wanted to come slave clothing, is wholly opposite. People used Izumi Inaba. With a repertoire of costume here to live and also study dance. But when to have only one or two garments. They didn’t designs under her belt, Inaba is an expert at I went to college, they offered me other have anything else and I got to learn how they reducing, reusing and recycling without electives and I got into designing. made their own clothing. If you look at a compromising innovation or originality. Her historical picture of slaves in the cotton fields, designs for Steppenwolf’s upcoming produc- For a show like “Miz Martha” how does you see the same patterns on different parts tion of “The Most Spectacularly Lamentable your creative process begin? of their garments. They probably used the Trial of Miz Martha Washington” showcase same fabric to make different things but they her attention to detail and abstraction of The first thing is always reading the script. also had very limited fabric choices and well-known themes. With this script especially, I was very scared brought together what they could afford or to express my feelings because it’s about recycle. And then there are these imaginary, How did you get started in history and African-American slavery, but it’s historical figures that have a very cartoonish, costume design? also very funny. In order to execute the design fast-fashion feeling. A little bit trashy some- process, I went through both the historical and times, reflecting American consumerism right My first interest was performing arts. I was more contemporary research. The script made now. You know: the bigger the better, colorful, going to dance when I grew up. I wanted to me imagine that this show wants to be very attractive, but it means nothing. 61

Newcity APRIL 2020 STAGE TOP 5 How do you maintain the accuracy Above: Izumi Inaba/Photo: Hayley Osborn and familiarity of historical characters As of presstime, cancellations and while still adding something new? Previous Page: program changes in response to the Coronavirus have begun, so please check I’ve done a handful of shows based in history 1. One of the historical figures from the production, with individual venues on current status. but which also have a contemporary feeling. Izumi’s design for Betsy Ross distinguishes her role in It’s a spectrum, there’s either straight period 1 The Dream King. Teatro costume or totally new. I like merging history with an American flag train and an intricate Vista. Directed by Sandra somewhere in between. It can be perfectly headdress featuring a pin cushion. Marquez, this world premiere married in the middle. Or in some productions, created by Marvin Quijada, who the silhouette and the fabric choices might be 2. The costume of another famous personality from the also stars, is a genre-bending more toward period but the small pieces are show, Queen Charlotte, presents modern sensuality with a classic love story told with a lush modern. And then on the other end of the musical score and largely without spectrum, the goal is to use totally contempo- play on an era-appropriate undergarment, the petticoat. words. Opens April 10 rary pieces that try to create the silhouette. The easiest example is the women’s dress: of each character, so the journey of each 2 Ironbound. Steep Theatre. people wore long dresses and as long as they character is seamless. Pulitzer Prize-winner look like remnants from the past, there are Martyna Majok’s play navigates many opportunities to create something new. Where do you find inspiration for the murky waters of love, security, your designs? immigration and mobility with You have to make a fair number of heartbreaking humor. Opens costumes for each character. How do It starts with finding a piece of research April 17 you keep the visual consistency without image or picture or painting that feels right disregarding the character’s individuality? for the play. In the design process, I’ll talk to 3 All-One! The Dr. the director and we’ll share our feelings. Bronner’s Play. The Characters’ individuality comes first. If that The design process is like breaking down Passage Theatre. Beth Hyland’s character is in different scenes with other elements like lines, values and textures. latest play is an irreverent look people on stage, I make a little plot with the What’s exciting in theater is you get to do at life’s deepest darkness and character on the vertical side and the scenes it on real people and see it in real time. brightest light through the on the horizontal. Then I put when they’re too-wild-to-be-believed life of in the same scene and I put my colored Where did you find inspiration for the world’s most famous maker sketches in those cells to see if the colors your upcoming show? of soap. Opens April 17 are not overlapping. It started with our director, Whitney [White]. 4 White. Definition Theatre. How do costumes contribute I had initial images for each character. We A white painter and a black to storytelling? exchanged information and then I went back actress take their share of artistic and did more research based on what she liberties in James Ijames’ play, Sometimes it’s required in a script. But other liked and what she suggested. Then I started which explores white privilege, times, I inspire the team. Costume design sketching my ideas. Within that process, racial politics and the fine line is not just myself but also working with scenic, I got to see set designers’ model pictures between appropriation and lighting and sound designers. So I want to and those were very different than what I was opportunity. Opens April 25 make sure that my costume makes sense to imagining. It’s very simple, but it creates an them as well as the director. When I present environment that works for the whole play even 5 Welcome to Keene, my design I also want to inspire the actors. though they have different scenes and it goes New Hampshire. Actors usually get very excited to see what to weird places. So I thought my costume Strawdog Theatre Company. they wear and some of them bring a different design also has to live in that. I looked at Brian James Polak’s play about take on the character. I like that it’s a personal historical pictures of George Washington’s small-town life explores the relationship, so I can make sure that each time. But to give some twists, we combined challenges facing America from actor feels right in their costumes. I think it new contemporary elements: adding different guns and opioids to divergent has an influence on actors, too. I always hair colors and platform boots. I don’t want political views. Opens April 27 want to think about the arc of the play and to reveal too much, but it’s very fun. 62 “The Most Spectacularly Lamentable Trial of Miz Martha Washington” opens April 12 at Steppenwolf.

Prabhakar Barwe (Indian), “King and Queen of Spades,” 1967/Grey Art Gallery, New York University Art Collection. Gift of Abby Weed Grey, G1975.188 eviews

Review Art difficult for us fifty years later to identify modernism can only be second-rate.” national differences—as suggested Very little of the work in this collection, One World Through Art by the plurality in the title of this however, would substantiate such an A Review of Modernisms exhibition, “Modernisms.” assertion. The collector’s self-stated at the Block Museum motivation was geo-political, not The Iranian artists tend to be the most aesthetic. Most of the artists were Sixty years ago, Abby Weed Grey began conceptual. For many, especially Parviz associated with some local group of traveling to Iran, Turkey and northern Tanavoli, painting appears to have been progressive artists, like Saqqakhana in India to collect art. A childless, recently a species of writing. Ernst Gombrich Iran, Group D in Turkey or Delhi Silpi widowed St. Paul housewife, she used would have approved. Mostly in their Chakra in India. Most pieces feel as tired, her late husband’s small fortune to twenties, these young Iranians echoed ordinary and hygienic as a faculty show establish a foundation for “the encour- the then-ruling monarchy that sought at a community college. Indeed, many agement of art through the assembling to connect itself to ancient Persia. Not of the artists were teachers at the art of international collections of art for many years later, the 1979 revolution schools visited by Mrs. Grey. Which is cultural exchange programs.” Such a forced both the Shah-of-Shahs and not to say that all these artists should be project may have been inspired by the most of these artists to flee the country. called second-rate. Much more promis- tours of “New American Paintings” The Armenian, Marcos Grigorian, ing examples of their work can often be throughout Europe, sponsored by the became one of the most celebrated of found online, and a few have become CIA in the late 1950s. She focused these refugees. You might not guess it quite collectible for public museums on Middle Eastern artists who were from his modest pieces here, but he as well as individuals. Unlike a major “breaking with the past to cope with the was a pioneer in land art; his work is museum, Mrs. Grey had neither the present,” much like modern artists in in the permanent collections of both experience, inclination or possibly even Europe and America had been doing MOMA and the Met. the funds, to acquire the best examples. for half a century. It does not appear that she had any aesthetic or ideologi- Self-discovery and spirituality are the Over the past decade, the Art Institute cal requirements—except that, like the mainstream art world of her day and soft-focus of the Indian artists in this of Chicago has shown two twenti- ours, she must have considered beauty, naturalism and idealism to be outdated exhibit. Among my favorites is the eth-century artists from India, Rabin- relics from another era. You will not find printmaker Krishna Reddy (1925-2018). dranath Tagore and M.F. Hussain (who Bedri Rahmi Eyübo?lu (Turkish), His “Seed Pushing” has that seed-germ also has a piece on view here). Modern “Full Moon,” 1961/Grey Art energy that Louis Sullivan exemplified art from Iran and Turkey has yet to appear. Perhaps this show is a step Gallery, New York University Art in architectural ornamentation—yet Collection, Gift of Abby Weed in that direction. All it really takes is the Grey, G1975.293 it also presents a human torso— enthusiasm of one museum trustee— representations of places you would inviting the viewer to look inward. It’s like to visit, people you would like to like Thomas J. Pritzker, who recently know or many feelings you would like only among Indian artists that explicit to share. In the work selected for this religious images can be found. Francis sponsored an exhibition of contempo- exhibition, contemporary life is more Newton Souza (1924-2002) was born rary Chinese painting. (Chris Miller) like a problem than an opportunity. to a Christian family in Goa, yet his “One World Through Art,” the title of her comprehensive 1972 exhibition, depiction of three Hindu deities in “Modernisms: Iranian, Turkish and suggests that she was more interested in national similarities than differences “Trimurti” makes me wish that earlier Indian Highlights from NYU’s Abby in her collection. It’s not surprising that Hindu artists might also have been Weed Grey Collection” is on view at the wife of a professional army officer familiar with Abstract Expression. the Block Museum, 40 Arts Circle Drive, in her era would advocate for interna- tional mutual understanding. It’s not There are two kinds of Turkish artists through April 5. in this exhibit: the well-born and those Blistering Feelings with a politically conscious, blue-collar A Review of A.R. Ammons at the Poetry Foundation background. Neither show much interest in the spiritual or intellectual “Life is hell, all is well.” That cryptic ditty, concerns that engaged the artists incorporated as text into a painting mentioned above. The woodcuts of Nevzat Akoral (b. 1928) exemplify a gruff, from the 1960s, characterizes the unsentimental strain of social realism. watercolors that A.R. Ammons (1926- 2001) made in the years that followed. Much different are the works of the Cosmic pessimism conflated with painter-poet Bedri Eyübo?lu (1911- 1975), the son of a provincial governor. personal optimism reflects the funda- Like so many young modern artists from mentalist faith of his native rural North around the world, he went to Paris and Carolina. The end is near… I am saved. It also reflects an approach to the world studied with André Lhote (as did the Chicagoans Leon and Sadie Garland). that responds to terrible calamities with There’s a cheerfully immanent violence an eager search for knowledge. That in his “Full Moon” that sets it apart from science-like orientation to the human- the color field paintings of his American ities was common in American universi- contemporaries. Other favorites in the ties back when Ammons began his Newcity APRIL 2020 exhibition are the lithographs of Princess long academic career in 1964. He may have considered the circumstances of Fahrelnissa Zeid (1901-1991). The daughter of an Ottoman pasha and the his own life to be hellish, though many wife of an Iraqi prince, her work has a would likely find them enviable. He was riveting formal intensity and sensuality. a prolific creative whose talent in modern poetry won him many awards, eventually The exhibition catalog argues “for the leading to the Goldwin Smith Professor- importance of non-Western art as a ship of Poetry at Cornell University, a component of modernity—and defies sinecure which he held for thirty-four the long-held belief that other forms of years until his 1998 retirement. 64

This cheerful, and I wish I could tenderness and failure. There are gay Reviews fundamentally con- take back to my people laughing, crying, and afraid. servative, attitude is younger self to expressed by the prove to him that The AIDS crisis is not downplayed. thrilling variety of being gay isn’t It is precisely because of how the book aesthetic satisfaction something to depicts the multiple facets of life in found in the twenty run from. “Later” the Town that makes it all the more watercolors on recounts Lisicky’s devastating. As he says near the start the wall. Ammons time as a fellow at of the book, “I don’t understand the mastered techniques the Provincetown conventional explanation of ghosts, like masking and Fine Arts Center but I do understand boxes of ashes wet-on-wet to and then as stashed beneath tables, the ugly shirts produce works that a resident of of the young dead still hanging in closets, dance on the edge Provincetown, the young dead crying…”. Lisicky allows of possibility— which he simply for beauty in the way he speaks of the driven by a ferocious calls “Town” in dead, “a man…turns on a cheap little impulse that appears the book, from lamp, not suspecting the dead live in limited to the years 1991 to 1994 that lamp. The dead light up the room between 1977 and during the height for an hour…”. Ghosts linger over “Later.” 1979, when these of the AIDS crisis. They are at times expressions of the works were made. anxiety around sex and the specter of He accompanied this creative outburst Lisicky gives us statistics to provide HIV/AIDS. However, in Lisicky’s vulnera- with a brief artist’s statement, “Chang- context for the crisis: “In 1991, ble and necessary voice, they are also ing Things,” as plainspoken as his 10,000,000 people live with HIV, reminders to live. (Bruce Owens Grimm) poetry. It concludes with: “How more than 1,000,000 in the United fortunate we are that art allows us States. In that year alone 20,454 die in Paul Lisicky reads from “Later” in to transform blistering feelings into the U.S. Officially, there are ninety-two a joint reading with author Garth the brilliance, the sweep and curve, people living with full-blown AIDS in Greenwell at Women and Children the dash and astonishment (along Town, which doesn’t include HIV-posi- First on June 25 at 7pm. with the cool definition, judgment, and tive people without symptoms.” The knowledge) of still completed things.” way he moves from worldwide numbers “Later: My Life at the Edge of the to U.S. numbers to Town numbers World” By Paul Lisicky, Graywolf This show makes for an interesting is an excellent example of how he Press, 240 pages comparison with the Amy Sillman moves from the global exhibition at the Arts Club of Chicago picture to the local one, APRIL 2020 Newcity last summer. Both professional academ- which allows us to see ics had a thorough, if loose, analytic how the crisis impacts approach to their own psychology. daily life. As Lisicky writes, Sillman’s abstract paintings felt locked “I can’t feel statistics.” into a narrower range of expression. Ammons presents a greater and more He makes us feel those sensual biodiversity of the imagination. statistics by showing gay Yet Sillman also had a few large pieces life as more than dis- that addressed major social problems traught about HIV/AIDS. outside the well-groomed world of the There are the questions college campus. “Life is Hell,” Ammons about dating, “Is a might retort. So what’s the point? boyfriend someone to love or someone to be loved The point of his work is joy. To borrow by?” Lisicky navigates us a phrase from his poetry, they are a through the assertion of “bucketful of radiant toys”—translucent his independence from layers that have been ripped like his family, “Emotionally, paper or shattered like glass, yet ever it’s a full-time job to draw re-emerging with balance, wonder a border between myself and beauty—and all the pitiless and my family…” He emotion of a rainforest. (Chris Miller) makes friends, he writes, he has sex, he figures “A.R. Ammons: Watercolors” out ways to prolong his on view at The Poetry Foundation, stay in Town after his 61 West Superior, through April 30. initial fellowship ends and negotiates the Town’s Lit housing situation. It’s powerful because it is Ghost Lights still uncommon to see A Review of Paul Lisicky’s “Later: the full lives of gay people My Life at the Edge of the World” depicted. Too often we’re presented as tragic As a gay man who came of age during figures, or our happiness the AIDS crisis, Paul Lisicky’s gorgeous is fetishized. “Later” and haunted new memoir, “Later: My shows us gay people in Life at the Edge of the World,” is a book love, gay people experi- encing joy, worry, sadness, 65

Newcity APRIL 2020 Life is BeautifulBy David Alvarado 66

From music to film: you want to be here. The Logan Center at the University of Chicago is a multidisciplinary home for artistic practice. Connect with the Logan Center for concerts, exhibitions, performances, family programs, and more from world class, emerging, local, student, and international artists. Most of our programs are FREE. logancenter.uchicago.edu Logan Center for the Arts 773.702.ARTS 915 E 60th St loganUChicago Photo: Hypnotic Brass.

MADE YOU LISTEN MADE YOU SEE MADE YOU THINK Talk: Christina Quarles Talk: Deana Lawson with Open Dialogue: Generational Sat, Apr 4, 2–3 PM Naomi Beckwith Inequality and the Environment Hear Los Angeles-based artist Thu, Apr 9, 6–7:15 PM with Pope.L Christina Quarles discuss her recent Join photographer Deana Lawson Sun, Apr 19, 2–3:15 PM work on the opening day of her and MCA Manilow Senior Curator Artist Pope.L invites collaborators second-floor exhibition. Naomi Beckwith for their intimate from Flint, Michigan, as well as local conversation about collecting activists to envision an alternate and community. environmental inheritance for the next generation. Christina Quarles, Laid Down Beside Yew, 2019. Acrylic on canvas. 84 × 96 × 2 inches (213.4 × 243.8 × 5.1 cm). Courtesy of the artist; Regen Projects, Los Angeles; and Pilar Corrias Gallery, London.