How does the new Navy Pier stack up against our fantasy Navy Pier?
Yesterday, Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced a plan to spruce up Chicago's downtown lakefront. The $1.1 billion project includes a new arena for DePaul University across from McCormick Place, a boutique hotel, flyover bike paths and a $278 million face-lift for Navy Pier.
It remains up for debate how much a 10,000-seat basketball arena for a team that hasn't won in years—soon to be playing schools like Creighton and Butler in a crumbling Big East Conference—will do to boost the economy of the South Loop. At least Fall Out Boy will have a new place to play.
The rehabilitation of Navy Pier is far more intriguing and overdue. The new construction, expected to begin in fall, includes a fountain, an expanded Children's Museum and more restaurants (whether those will be themed after Tom Hanks movies has not been disclosed).
Potential Navy Pier upgrades were initiated two years ago. We put together a feature about it, and envisioned 15 fantastical fixes for the tourist magnet. Compare our vision (pictured above) to the city's concept. We hoped for a water park, soul club, doughnut factory, microbrewery, floating car silo, storefront theater, skate park and more. But, you know, a fountain that transforms into a skating rink is cool, I guess.
5 things to do today: Friday, May 17
of Montreal
ART & DESIGN
Manifest Urban Arts Festival Columbia College's annual showcase for its graduating students takes over the South Loop. The 12-hour schedule includes art and photography exhibitions, dance performances, lectures, film screenings and the opportunity to test out some newly developed video games. Various Columbia College venues in the South Loop. See colum.edu/manifest-2013/schedule for the full schedule. 8am–8pm.
CLUBS
Vito & Druzzi (The Rapture DJs) Drummer Vito Roccoforte and keyboardist/bassist Gabriel Andruzzi of the Rapture explore the deeper ends of the punk and disco influences on their disco-punk. Beauty Bar. 9pm. $5.
Art shows to see now
Amalia Pica, Eavesdropping (version #2), 2011. Photo: Robert Wedemeyer.
"They Seek a City: Chicago and the Art of Migration, 1910–50" | Art Institute of Chicago
Rarely seen works by artists such as Elizabeth Catlett reflect the experiences of the hundreds of thousands of people who moved to Chicago to escape persecution or poverty in the South, Eastern Europe and elsewhere during the first half of the 20th century. Through May 23.
"Amalia Pica" | Museum of Contemporary Art
In her first major solo museum exhibition (co-organized by the MCA and the MIT List Visual Arts Center), the London-based Argentine artist examines communication—in particular, the act of listening—and civic participation through drawings, sculptures, installations, projections, large-scale photographic prints and live performances. Incorporating simple materials such as flags, banners, confetti and brightly colored drinking glasses, her works are not only thoughtful but beautiful to behold. Through Aug 11.
Youth Lagoon at Metro | Pictures and review
Trevor Powers brought his Wondrous Bughouse and a sense of unease to the Metro.
On Youth Lagoon's latest record, Wondrous Bughouse, Trevor Powers looks inwards while channeling a lush, psychedelic sound that envelops his abstract odes. It's a slight departure from the intensely intimate anthems that populated the 24-year-old's debut record—songs which were characterized by a sense of immediacy and honesty.
Playing to a dense crowd at the Metro last night, Powers and his band seemed intent on letting their newest compositions breath, making their way through a set filled with extended interludes and outros. Easing into the woozy shuffle of "Mute," the group began the evening silhouetted by an array of multi-colored lights that illuminated a backdrop of large white sails. Stationed behind an array of keyboards, Powers casually conducted each track, occasionally picking up his microphone to belt out a particularly impassioned verse.
5 things to do during Chicago Craft Beer Week
Look, I know you want to get into swimsuit shape, but it's Chicago Craft Beer Week, and it's not going to drink itself. The 11-day festival kicks off today, running through May 26. There are dozens and dozens of events on the schedule, spread all over Chicagoland, from downtown to Elgin, Rosemont and Oak Park.
The complete schedule might be a little overwhelming. Turns out, people really love beer. Ancient humans brewed beer before they learned to make bread. Fortunately, food has caught up and many restaurants celebrate CCBW with pairings and tasting menus.
Below are five highlights.
Best weekend events in Chicago
Rodriguez
FRIDAY
Manifest Urban Arts Festival Columbia College's annual showcase for its graduating students takes over the South Loop. The 12-hour schedule includes art and photography exhibitions, dance performances, lectures, film screenings and the opportunity to test out some newly developed video games. Various Columbia College venues in the South Loop. See colum.edu/manifest-2013/schedule for the full schedule. 8am–8pm.
Rodriguez + Jenny O Though the 1970 album has long been a cult must-own amongst music nerds, Rodriguez's Cold Fact hit a startling level of fame recently thanks to the Oscar-winning doc, Searching for Sugar Man. The 70-year-old guitarist now rightfully seeks belated fame for his arresting, lightly psychedelic folk-rock songs. Arie Crown Theater. 8pm. $25–$50.
Fall Out Boy, Blink 182, Violent Femmes to headline Riot Fest 2013
Blink 182
Riot Fest Chicago, the last of Chicago's summer festivals, announced the lineup for its second three-day outing in Humboldt Park, September 13 through 15. And the bill looks like a strange lovechild of the Warped Tour and Ravinia Festival. Fortunately, there's far more Oi! than Oy.
On one hand you have a load of '90s pop-punkers—Blink 182, AFI, Rancid, Sublime with Rome, Bad Religion, Pennywise, Screeching Weasel. Then there's a more far reaching nostalgia with acts like Blondie, X and the Violent Femmes. Lollapalooza snagged New Order; Riot Fest offers Peter Hook playing Joy Division. Rounding out the bill is what amounts to the CDs littering the floor of my car in high school—Quicksand, Public Enemy, Dinosaur Jr., Rocket from the Crypt, etc. What, no Fishbone?
The Dismemberment Plan also returns to show off its first new material in over a decade. Time to get that Bad Brains T-shirt out of storage. It should be a blast.
Check out the complete lineup below. Tickets are on sale now.
Lillie's Q to reopen mid-June
Best New Barbecue winner: Lillie's Q
After a fire shuttered this much-loved barbecue spot, Lillie's Q announced today that it will be rising from the ashes sometime this June. The Wicker Park restaurant (which won Best New Barbecue in the 2011 Eat Out Awards) was forced to close after the hot-water heater in its basement malfunctioned, causing fire and smoke damage, on March 14 of this year; the new French Market location has been operating with a very limited menu as a result. As he works to rebuild the restaurant, chef/owner Charlie McKenna is also heading down to Memphis this weekend to compete in the annual Memphis in May barbecue competition, where he's entered the whole pork-shoulder category, in which he took home first place in 2007. "We're hoping to put together a really amazing finish at Memphis In May this weekend, and ride that wave right into getting the Bucktown location of Lillie's Q open," McKenna said in the press release.
5 things to do today: Thursday, May 16
Shout Out Louds
ART & DESIGN
"Image Structure—Sonnenzimmer." Sonnenzimmer (a.k.a. Nadine Nakanishi and Nick Butcher) experiment with the tactile and sculptural qualities of quilts in this new exhibition based on a collaboration with Club Club, who won the Chicago Architectural Club's 2012 "Future Prentice" competition. Nakanishi and Butcher also show recent abstract paintings exploring landscape. Public Works Gallery. 2pm–5pm.
CLUBS
Loco Dice + Robert Dietz + Chuck Flask Germany's Loco Dice came up in hip-hop but now stands tall as a Euro-house monster. The rave vet keeps the beat lean, mean and nocturnal. Spy Bar. 10pm. $20, advance $15, early bird $10.
