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.
Broadway League honors Gov. Pat Quinn, Illinois legislature
Gov. Pat Quinn
The Broadway League, a trade association for what it terms "the Broadway industry," announced today that Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn and the Illinois state legislature are recipients of a "Star of Touring Broadway" award. The legislature and the governor received the honor for passing and signing, respectively, the Live Theatre Production Tax Credit Act.
Similar to the state's film tax credit, provides breaks for commercial producers of "pre-Broadway" shows or of long runs (eight weeks or more) in houses of 1,200 seats or more—in other words, the producers and road presenters represented by the Broadway League. In a statement announcing the award, Broadway League executive director Charlotte St. Martin praised the tax credit for supporting the tryouts of Kinky Boots and Big Fish.
Because of its limitation to "pre-Broadway" shows and/or very large theaters, the act doesn't apply to Chicago's longest-running commercial productions. Million Dollar Quartet has been running for more than four years at the Apollo Theater, while Blue Man Group has logged about two decades at the Briar Street Theatre. Yet the theaters' respective capacities of 461 and 625 don't meet the tax credit's requirements.
Not all Broadway in Chicago presentations qualify, either. The League's announcement quotes Daryl Roth, a lead producer on Kinky Boots, praising Illinois's elected officials for finding "a way to entice producers like myself to think of Chicago first." Yet Roth's Love, Loss and What I Wore, which ran more than three months at BIC's Broadway Playhouse in 2011, wouldn't have earned the credit based on that theater's capacity of 549.
Expo Chicago announces 2013 exhibitors
Wendy White’s installation of two paintings, 68 Catherine and R6, appeared in the Andrew Rafacz Gallery booth at Expo Chicago 2012.
Expo Chicago: The International Exposition of Contemporary and Modern Art returns to Navy Pier September 19–22, and the 2013 participating galleries were announced yesterday. Let's do the numbers:
- 120 galleries—one-third of which are exhibiting at Expo Chicago for the first time—will participate, representing 34 cities and 16 countries (Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, Denmark, England, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Spain, Switzerland and the U.S.)
- 18 Chicago galleries are among them, 4 of which are new to Expo: moniquemeloche, Carrie Secrist, R.S. Johnson Fine Art and Zolla/Lieberman. (Last year featured 12 locals.)
- 18 galleries will exhibit in the EXPOSURE section (reserved for those that have been in operation for seven years or fewer), and 10 are participating in Expo Chicago for the first time.
- Galleries were selected by 4 committee members: Rhona Hoffman (Rhona Hoffman, Chicago), Michael Kohn (Michael Kohn, Los Angeles), Anthony Meier (Anthony Meier Fine Arts, New York) and Chris D’Amelio (David Zwirner; London, New York).
- 27,000 visitors attended the inaugual Expo Chicago in 2012, and 3,000 attended the opening-night preview, Vernissage.
- I enjoyed 17 free cocktails and 13 sliders at Vernissage. (JK)
Stay tuned for more Expo info and a countless number of enthusiastic quotes by president and director Tony Karman.
Where to watch the Blackhawks vs. Red Wings game tonight
De-troit sucks! Let's go, Red Wings! We just love to yell, but if you're cheering on one team or another, make sure you check out our list of the best bars to watch the game tonight.
Luna Negra Dance Theater bites the dust
Eduardo Zuñiga of Luna Negra Dance Theater in rehearsal for CARMEN.maquia
It was announced yesterday that Luna Negra Dance Theater is ceasing operations "due to financial constraints." Established in 1999 by Cuban-born dancer and choreographer Eduardo Vilaro, the Latino-focused company was one of the boldest and most artistically exciting contemporary dance ensembles in Chicago, even more so when Gustavo Ramirez Sansano came onboard as artistic director in 2010 (following Vilaro's departure). We remember being mesmerized by the Picasso-inspired Carmen.maquia—all the athletic, emotive movement—among his other brave choreographic feats.
5 things to do today: Wednesday, May 15
Yo-Yo Ma
COMEDY
TJ & Dave This two-man show puts master improvisers TJ Jagodowski and Dave Pasquesi together for an hour of long-form. iO Cabaret. 11pm. $5.
GAY & LESBIAN
Burly Burliness is optional at this night for bearded boys, funky folk and all other queers and allies. Gregg Medley spins punk, disco and new wave galore. The Burlington. 9pm.
Navy Pier Ferris wheel record attempt will include 'emergency pee bottle'
Navy Pier Ferris wheel
Lots of completely unnecessary Guinness World Records have been set by Chicagoans or in Chicago. On Friday, Clinton Shepherd hopes to set another. The 32-year-old South Sider will board the Navy Pier Ferris wheel at 2:30pm. If all goes according to plan, the Pier Park operations manager will ride the wheel in the sky and keep on turning continuously (save for five-minute breaks every hour) until Sunday at 2:30pm. The 48 hours spent onboard would shatter the time for Longest Marathon on a Fairground/Theme Attraction, which the Guinness Book of World Records' website says is 25 hours (though there is a Canadian claim on a 30-hour record). Of course, all of this would be a more impressive test of stamina were the ride Raging Bull at Six Flags instead of the Pier's sluggish Ferris wheel. But over the phone this afternoon, Shepherd said slow-jamming his way to a record has its own set of challenges.
Is your life one big training montage right now? Yeah, I'm trying to stay up as long as I possibly can. If I do take a nap, it's usually five or ten minutes, because I do get five-minute breaks every hour. So my goal is to stay up four to five hours straight, so if I do need a break, I can save up the time and use it when I need it. I'm also trying to get my body prepared to take care of the proper...bladder issues. Outside of that, it's just a big mind game.
