Titus Andronicus at Metro | Concert photos
The blue-collar dudes in Titus Andronicus hit the Metro on Saturday night, Cuatro de Mayo. The New Jersey punks ripped through tracks from last year's Local Business, an album of T-shirt-and-jeans epics, like the young Replacements trying to make "Bohemian Rhapsody." The best part about it? None of it was about the Civil War (unlike The Monitor).
Singer Patrick Stickles sported a Diarrhea Planet shirt. You'll have to trust me when I say that's awesome. Which reminds me: If you missed this and are looking for similar rock & roll kicks, get a load of Diarrhea at Schubas next week. Yes, sorry, I'm 11 years old.
5 concerts to see this week
Daughter
1. Charles Bradley and His Extraordinaires
There's a pain and longing in certain voices that has to be earned. While it's a bummer it took sixtysomething soul belter Charles Bradley decades to release an album, his 2011 debut, No Time for Dreaming, was a stunner. Struggle, death, heartbreak are all debris and dust kicked up by his gale-force pipes. The Daptone crooner returns with an equally great R&B platter, Victim of Love. Metro. Thu at 9pm. $26, advance $21.
2. METZ
Ever wonder what it would feel like if you worked in the Sub Pop warehouse and a box of Nirvana CDs fell on your head? Exuberantly unhinged noise-punk trio Metz blew many minds, if not speakers, at CMJ 2012. The Toronto band, currently supporting a self-titled Sub Pop debut, returns. Anyone who misses the Jesus Lizard should mark the date on on their hand with a Sharpie. Lincoln Hall. Sun at 9pm. $15.
3. Daughter
No, not a Pearl Jam cover band! Boyfriend-girlfriend (and another) trio Daughter makes brooding, experimental folk, layering Elena Tonra's Feist-like voice over Igor Haefeli's ghostly soundscapes. The Londoners' debut, If You Leave, was recently released by dream-pop stalwart 4AD. Swimming in echo is a heartache that brings to mind early Cat Power. It's lovely stuff. Lincoln Hall. Thu at 9pm. $14.
4. Patti Smith & Her Band
After winning a National Book Award victory for her memoir, Just Kids, the punk doyenne has not traded denim for tweed, and remains as fiery and abrasive a performer as ever. On last year's Banga, the 66-year-old was as good as she's ever been. Monday's gig is sold out, so go Tuesday. Vic Theatre. Tue at 7:30pm. $37.50.
5. Deer Tick
Probably the first band to play City Winery that could drink the place dry, Deer Tick tours behind its latest, 2011's Divine Providence, a surprisingly unabashed ode to good times and boozy debauchery employing John McCauley's Tom Waits–level growl, Southern-tinged roots, Replacements recklessness and country rollicking. Just how much does the band love the Replacements? Its last release was called Tim. City Winery. Tue , Wed at 8pm. $20–$35.
5 best nightlife events this week
Gold Panda
1. Gold Panda
Gold Panda's debut LP, Lucky Shiner, was released in 2010. And as one might expect from any electronic producer and sampling savant, Panda (real name: Derwin!) has already moved on with a series of EPs, a DJ Kicks comp, remixes and the like. His latest short play for Ghostly, Trust, offers the same hypnotic melange of phonogram crackles, rooftop rain, opium-den chimes and subterranean bass. The Mid. Fri at 10pm. $10.
2. Richard 23 and Patrick Codenys of Front 242
Get bodied by some vicious vintage techno. Twenty years after playing the Lollapalooza main stage, Belgian industrial pioneers Front 242 send two of their knob-twiddlers over to show the kids how it's done. Smart Bar. Fri at 10pm. $15, before midnight $12, advance $10.
3. Trus'me
On his recently released third album, Treat Me Right, Manchester's Trus'me moves beyond the dusty disco samples of his earlier work for a harder techno sound that manages to maintain the nocturnal soul vibe. The Prime Numbers label owner hits Chicago for an underground gig. Visit Spy Bar on Facebook or Resident Advisor for tickets. TBA. Sat at 11pm. $10.
4. Kill Paris
Yes, there is variety to American dubstep. And, yes, we'll even endorse it. OWSLA records' Kill Paris blends booming electro and the label's trademark drops with funky slap-bass. Tons of slap-bass. Smart Bar. Thu at 10pm. $12, before midnight $10, advance $8.
5. Mercury Soul @ Metro
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra's cutting-edge hybrid of classical, multimedia and electronica carries on at the rock club. DJ Masonic (a.k.a. CSO Mead composer in residence Mason Bates), Searchl1te, director/designer Anne Patterson and conductor Benjamin Shwartz share the stage with members of the CSO. Put some brains in your bounce. Metro. Fri at 9pm. $20.
5 things to do today: Monday, May 6
ART & DESIGN
"The Artist and the Poet." "Picasso and Chicago"—and Picasso's love of poetry—inspire this survey of 20th-century works on paper in which artists including Henri Matisse, Ellsworth Kelly and David Hockney respond to Stéphane Mallarmé, Wallace Stevens and other poets. Art Institute of Chicago. 10:30am–5pm.
CLUBS
La Dolce Vita This new weekly explores the cool corners of '60s European hip, not the cliché version from the last decade. Los Inmortales de Chicago (featuring Frank Orral as Dandy Jack and Gilles Aniorte) will play live and Joe Bryl, Clark Quente and Orral will spin jazz, jive, bossa, rhumba and more. La Sirena Clandestina. 9pm.
COMEDY
The Armando Diaz Experience In this culty iO staple, a person starts the show with a monologue inspired by an audience suggestion, then the city's top improvisers create scenes around it. Simply put, this is iO doing what it does best. iO Del Close Theater. 8:30pm. $12.
GAY & LESBIAN
Salonathon Jane Beachy invites the city's strangest and queerest performers and provocateurs to take over West Town. Folks like Big Dipper, Jyldo, DAAN and Trandroid have so far kept this party weird and wonderful. Beauty Bar. 9pm.
MUSIC
Bill Callahan Ask a contemporary songwriter about who their favorite working songwriters are, odds are good that Bill Callahan will be on their list. The indie vet, who formerly performed as Smog, plays typically lovely, unsettling and subtly funny tunes in the rare verdant setting of Horticulture Hall. Garfield Park Conservatory. 7pm. $25.
5 things to do today: Sunday, May 5
Marshmallows at 240sweet
AROUND TOWN
Cinco de Mayo Festival Go loco during this fete commemorating the Mexican army's victory at the Battle of Puebla in 1862. Celebrate Mexican culture and check out the live music, crafts and Mexican eats. 26th St and Kostner Ave. 2pm–11pm.
ART & DESIGN
"Commonwealth: New Work by Neal Vandenbergh and Latham Zearfoss." Two Chicago-based artists consider power as an invisible force in our lives. Zearfoss creates an imaginary poll asking residents of a Midwestern town to assess their power to affect change, both publicly and personally. Vandenbergh incorporates materials of authoritative control—i.e., yellow construction-grade paint and reflective vinyl—into his large-scale monochromatic panels. Roxaboxen Exhibitions.
GAY & LESBIAN
MadonnaRama It's a huge lovefest set to the music and videos of Madonna that somehow manages the hysteria of a live show. And if you think there's a gayer night on the town somewhere else, newsflash: There isn't. Berlin. 9pm. $5.
MUSIC
Har Mar Superstar Ron Jeremy look-alike Sean Tillmann, a.k.a. Har Mar Superstar, is branded as a joke funk man, but his latest album, Bye Bye 17, is a honest soul record with vintage touches. Released on Julian Casablancas's Cult Record, the album features Strokes drummer Fabrizio Moretti. He may have his tongue permanently in cheek, but the vocal pipes underneath are on point. Empty Bottle. 8:30pm. $12, advance $10.
SHOPPING
Chicago Flea MKT Peruse 50 Midwest artisans' wares, from jewlery to vintage dresses to sweets (such as marshmallows at 240sweet, pictured), on the 40,000-square-foot playground of Wicker Park's A.N. Pritzker Elementary School. Fuel up with fare from food trucks such as the Slide Ride and 5411 Empanadas. A.N. Pritzker Elementary School. 10am-5pm.
5 things to do today: Saturday, May 4
Tom Odell
AROUND TOWN
Global Cannabis March With legislators in Springfield making moves toward okaying marijuana for prescriptive medical use, NORML Illinois is looking to ride the momentum of trailblazing pot legalization in Colorado and Washington state. Don your favorite legalize-it attire (your alien-smoking-a-joint hoodie?) to hear speakers including Illinois NORML director Dan Linn, Reader sleuth Mick Dumke, the Heartland Alliance's James Kowalsky and Northwestern Students for Sensible Drug Policy co-prez Frances Fu. Daley Plaza. Noon–Sat 3pm.
BOOKS
The Wake of Fallon McPhael Via poetry, music and burlesque dance, the life of a fictional poet (Fallon McPhael) is celebrated. Mourners include Kathleen Rooney, Fred Sasaki, Larry Sawyer, Lina Vitkauskas and others. Charnel House. 7pm. $5.
GAY & LESBIAN
Chances Dances It's a night of out-of-the-way gay as queers of all stripes storm the Hideout for sweaty and ecstatic good times. Hideout. 11:30pm. $5.
MUSIC
Tom Odell Like Jack Bugg, Tom Odell is a precocious Brit throwback, barely above drinking age and nostalgically looking back to the golden era of the '60s—Dylan, Buckley, Beatles. He's signed to Columbia, who did pretty dang well with Adele, you know. Schubas. 10pm. $15, advance $12.
THEATER
Completeness Itamar Moses’s academic romcom deftly blends relationships with research. Elliott (Matt Holzfeind) and Molly (Kristina Valada-Viars) are graduate students at the same college. When the two meet-cute in a campus computer lab, Elliott offers to build Molly an algorithm to help refine her data for a research project. Jeremy Wechsler’s smart, handsome staging, with a sleek set by Joe Schermoly and video design by Michael Stanfill, rides the line between sensual and cerebral. The charismatic Holzfeind and Valada-Viars parlay higher math and genome mapping into persuasive pillow talk, demonstrating proficiency in yet another scientific discipline: chemistry. Theater Wit. 8pm. $18–$36.
Andrea Pitzer on The Secret History of Vladimir Nabokov
Andrea Pitzer
When Andrea Pitzer first read Nabokov as a college student, she wasn't an immediate fan. "I didn't mind violence, or sex, or protagonists who were not nice—I didn't even need them to reform," she writes in the introduction to her first book, The Secret History of Vladimir Nabokov. "But I wanted the events and the people in his books to matter."
Nabokov escaped Bolshevik Russia, Nazi Germany (with his Jewish wife and son) and then Occupied France. He witnessed unimaginable violence and tragedy in his lifetime (1899–1977). Even while he's praised for being a brilliant prose stylist, he's criticized for his indifference to these political atrocities.
But what if the Lolita author folded hidden layers of meaning into his books—stories that "have something profound to teach us about being human and our very way of interacting with art"? That's what Pitzer finds in The Secret History, drawing on information from court cases, FBI files, Red Cross records and other forgotten or newly declassified documents. I recently spoke with the D.C.-based writer about her revelatory new book.
You talk about being drawn to Nabokov's writing when you were 18. Did you have the sense, even then, that there was more to his books than gorgeous sentences?
When I first encountered his work when I was young, it was, Wow, this guy really knows how to write, but he's freaking me out. I really identified with Lolita the character, but what happened to her seemed so horrific that, while I appreciated the skill that went into [the novel], I didn't want to immerse myself too fully in it. The second time, I thought, This language is really so incredible. Let me give it more of a chance. As I read more and more, I sensed there was more to his books, but it was a really long time before I went back to find out what that was.
5 things to do today: Friday, May 3
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
AROUND TOWN
First Fridays For the most part, these millennials are social enough. The complimentary Wolfgang Puck appetizers are plentiful and not half-bad. Same goes for the music, solidifying this ongoing monthly art party as a must-do. Museum of Contemporary Art. 6pm–10pm. $18, advance $14, MCA members $10
BOOKS
Andrea Pitzer Pitzer reads from and signs copies of her book, The Secret History of Vladimir Nabokov, which takes a close look at the life and work of the enigmatic Russian author. The Book Cellar. 7pm. Free.
MUSIC
Oh Land + High Highs Oh Land has been likened to Björk, Florence and the Machine, Kylie Minogue and Portishead. In truth, the Dane's none of the above, but those names give you a sense of her stylistic tics, as well as her massive potential. Lincoln Hall. 7pm. $15.
SHOPPING
Fashion 2013 Fashion Design students from the School of the Art Institute Chicago show off all they learned in class with a runway show featuring 300 garments. Seniors show five complete looks, juniors show three, and sophomores present one avant-garde look—all on a long runway inside a 15,000-square-foot tent on Millennium Park's Chase Promenade. The 9am show ($40) is a dress rehearsal; the noon and 3pm shows ($75) are the real deal. Get tickets at saicfashion.org or at the door. Millennium Park Chase Promenade North. 9am, noon, 3pm. $40–$75.
THEATER
The Magic Parlour Illusionist Dennis Watkins dips into his trunk of wondrous effects, including a "Card Stab" involving a human-sized balloon. Palmer House Hilton. 7:30, 9:30pm. $75.
Art shows to see now
Diana Guerrero-Maciá, Nomadic Future, 2012.
"Model Studies" | Graham Foundation
Thomas Demand curated and contributes new pieces to this exhibition about experimental forms of representation, which includes works by fellow German artist Thomas Scheibitz, the late Fernand Léger and Francis Bruguière, and 1920s students at the Soviet Union's Vkhutemas architecture school. Through June 1.
"Kate Levant: Inhuman Indifference" | moniquemeloche
Levant, whose work appeared in the 2012 Whitney Biennial, experiments with traditionally feminine objects such as hosiery and earrings. In the gallery's "on the wall" storefront-window project space, Sanford Biggers's site-specific installation Argo engages the Underground Railroad's use of quilts. Through June 8.
"For and Against Modern Art: The Armory Show + 100" | DePaul Art Museum
The 1913 International Exhibition of Modern Art (a.k.a. the Armory Show) attracted a record 189,000 visitors when it stopped in Chicago. Reuniting prints, drawings and paintings that future heavyweights such as Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso presented there, "For and Against Modern Art" delves into the controversies ignited by these avant-garde works. Through June 16.
"FRAGMENT: Sampling the Modern" and "Cody Hudson: Flip Your Wig." | Elmhurst Art Museum
Recently appointed Chief Curator Staci Boris continues to steer the Elmhurst Art Museum in exciting directions—this time, with a group exhibition that showcases local emerging and mid-career artists. Leslie Baum, Diana Guerrero-Maciá, Jessica Labatte and Adam Scott sample elements of visual culture (ads, symbols, urban debris, art history) in bold, color-saturated works that reflect both 20th-century abstract modernism and contemporary culture. Meanwhile, Cody Hudson fills the EAM's Hostetler Gallery with large-scale sculptures from scrap wood and metal. Opens May 3.
Big Boi at Park West | Concert photos
Big Boi represented the A (that's the ATL, a.k.a. Phatlanta, a.k.a. Hotlanta, a.k.a. Atlanta) at Park West on Wednesday, May 1. Though he did salute Chicago by wearing some crispy Air Jordan IVs in Bulls red and black. Supported by the fantastic Killer Mike, the (please don't make us say "former") Outkast man ripped through hits and cuts from his most recent LP, Vicious Lies and Dangerous Rumors.
