Are ice cream truck songs regional?
Get your ice creams.
When Dan Sinker isn't impersonating Rahm Emanuel, appearing as a guest on The Colbert Report or heading up the Knight-Mozilla OpenNews project, he's busy making online tools and on-the-fly websites to answer such questions as: Where can I find aggregated info. on Chicago's mayoral candidates? (chicagomayoralscorecard.com) Does David Axelrod still have his mustache? (doesaxelrodstillhavehismustache.com)
So when he asked his loyal Twitter followers today [disclosure: I am a loyal Twitter follower and used to work for Sinker at Punk Planet magazine], "Is ice cream truck music regional, or is it 'Turkey in the Straw'/'Camptown Races' everywhere?", it's not surprising that, lickety-split, someone pulled a Sinker and started whipping up a crowd-sourced ice cream truck music map.
Maybe this initiative doesn't interest you, but maybe you haven't spent hours being driven mad by creepily endless loops of "Pop! Goes the Weasel" on a warm summer's eve. We have. Is the same song looping in, say, Albuquerque? Or do the trucks there favor "La Cuacaracha"? Help make this V.I.M. (Very Important Map) more accurate by going here and answering just one question: Which song does the ice cream truck play in your area?
Is it "The Entertainer"? "Turkey in the Straw"? Something else? Sinker makes the V.I.P. (Very Important Point) that, melody-wise, "Do Your Ears Hang Low" is the same as "Turkey in the Straw." So don't get it twisted.
In the words of Eddie Murphy, "There's something about the ice cream truck that makes kids lose it." And there's something about ice cream truck music that makes us lose it, too. OUR MINDS.
Thai Festival Chicago 2013: Best food at the fest
Thai Festival Chicago kicked off today (it's at Federal Plaza until Friday), meaning you can experience a taste of Thailand in the heart of the Loop. Sponsored by the Royal Thai Consulate General of Chicago, the fest features various aspects of Thai culture and food: Think drum parades, demos of traditional and contemporary Thai dance, and a cooking demonstration by famous Thai chef Arun Sampanthavivat. Speaking of food, six Chicago-area Thai restaurants are on hand to serve a variety of Thai meals, including pad thai, pad see eiw and chicken panang. And because we're big fans of Thai cuisine, we couldn't visit the fest without checking out all of the food offerings. Here are three must-have dishes. Wanna taste them for yourself? The festival is open 11am—6pm today through Friday at Federal Plaza.
Fitz and the Tantrums at Metro: Concert pictures and review
The first of two back-to-back, sold-out shows by Fitz and the Tantrums at the Metro started very early; unlike tonight’s second show, Tuesday’s was all-ages, meaning the doors had to open at 6pm to get all the kids home by bedtime.
And yet, confounding my expectations of being one of the oldest dudes in the room, Tuesday’s show really was all-ages; I spotted a full range of tween girls to late-50s guys in sweater vests and khakis among the head-bopping crowd last night, which speaks to the broad appeal of 42-year-old bandleader Michael Fitzpatrick and his cohort’s populist, neo-soul aesthetic.
In an admirably sweaty set that lasted nearly two hours, Fitzpatrick and co-lead singer Noelle Scaggs (who took the lead as hype woman, addressing and embracing the crowd more than the gawky but lovable Fitz) ran through most of the material from the band’s two studio albums (2010's Pickin' Up the Pieces and last month's More Than Just a Dream); the only cover I noted was the Eurythmics’ “Sweet Dreams.”
With his fevered, ungainly moves and marked affinity for handclaps, Fitzpatrick might be one of the odder frontmen to sell out two nights at the Metro in recent years—if the band gets any bigger, he’s a soft target for a Taran Killam impersonation on SNL—but he and Scaggs had the packed house wrapped around their little fingers.
I missed the first opener, brassy swing-popper Ivy Levan, but was glad to catch the second, Austin modern-rock foursome Saints of Valory. Their driving, percussion-heavy energy got me to do something I haven’t done in a while: buy a CD.
This terrible hip-hop anthem probably just jinxed the Blackhawks
As a die-hard Blackhawks fan, it's been a rough few days. Obviously, there was the dud performance on the cruddy Boston slush, er, ice in game three of the Stanley Cup Finals. Hossa was hurt in warm-ups. The squad's power play, face-offs and special teams in general have been rather dire. Rocky Wirtz claimed the team is still not profitable, which means ticket prices will inevitably rise again. And now these wannabes in Young Regime have to go and drop this frat rap on YouTube, the wackest shit since Tom Hanks's kid went hard on the mic for Northwestern. It's enough to make me root for the Bluejackets.
Five years ago Al Jourgensen of Ministry penned a metal anthem for the team, "Keys to the City." That stunk, too.
Look, everyone, the Blackhawks already have an anthem, and it is awesome and it was written by Richard freaking Marx's dad.
Can't these bros just stick to cheering for the Cubs?
RECOMMENDED: Blackhawks bars—where to watch the Stanley Cup Finals
5 things to do today: Wednesday, June 19
Blackademics at MPAACT
ART & DESIGN
"Gertrude Abercrombie/Julia Thecla" Corbett vs. Dempsey showcases two masters of Midwestern surrealism: Abercrombie, who churned out small paintings from her home studio in Hyde Park, and Thecla, whose captivating magical realist paintings incorporate fairytale-like creatures and heavenly bodies. Corbett vs. Dempsey. 10am–5pm.
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.
Terrible art coming to a CTA Red Line station near you
Bad art, good walls. The CTA today released renderings of artwork that will be permanently installed at seven rehabbed North Side Red Line stations. It's the kind of stuff you'd normally see being sold for insanely optimistic prices at a coffee shop: cartoonish grass intertwined with a painter's palette, a bright urban landscape, abstract flowery globs. And the agency got it all from Target! Just kidding. The CTA paid $621,000, using Federal Transit Administration funds.
Stage Left, Theatre Seven announce 2013–14 seasons
Theatre Seven of Chicago and Stage Left Theatre announced their upcoming production seasons today, including a co-produced world premiere by Chicago playwright Joe Zarrow.
Zarrow's Principal Principle, a dark comedy about teachers'-lounge intrigue at a Chicago public high school, will make its debut April 12–May 18 at Theater Wit.
Theatre Seven's season will also include the previously announced Unwilling and Hostile Instruments: 100 Years of Extraordinary Chicago Women, comprising eight short pieces about notable Chicago ladies of the past century to mark the 100th anniversary of suffrage in Illinois. Though the eight playwrights on the project remain to be announced, it's set for a September opening at American Theater Company. Theatre Seven will also continue its Shikaakwa monthly reading series.
Stage Left's 32nd season opens with Barbara Lhota's Warped, about a woman accusing two police officers of raping her after escorting her home drunk. The world premiere, presumably inspired by the highly publicized 2011 court case in New York in which the cops were acquitted, runs August 31–October 6. A revival of Peter Nichols's A Day in the Death of Joe Egg follows in the new year, running January 11–February 16. Both shows will be staged at Theater Wit. Stage Left's 11th annual LeapFest slate of new works will take place in summer 2014 at a venue to be determined.
Check out the 606, the newly branded Bloomingdale Trail
The Bloomingdale Trail project finally has a name. Well, sort of. It's really more of a number: the 606, as in the the first three digits of all Chicago zip codes. The trail of the 2.7-mile elevated park, set to open next year on a former rail line, will still be known as the Bloomingdale Trail; the entirety of the project is the 606, a name befitting a vintage drum machine or a Lake Shore Drive condo building. ("Lux living at the 606" sounds arguably more natural than "Let's take a walk on the 606.") It is also the area code for eastern Kentucky.
Initially, Rahmbo's Deputy Mayor Steve Koch was puzzled by the 606 branding: "I have to confess, I didn't immediately get it."
"When it was first presented, we all sort of went, 'huh?'" Beth White, who has overseen the plan for the nonprofit Trust for the Public Land, told Chicago Tonight.
The numeric designation is the brainchild of Matt Gordon, who has one of those jobs you didn't know was a job: director of naming and writing in the Chicago office of the creative agency Landor Associates. "Through his naming work," Gordon's bio says, "he develops compelling names that help brands articulate their positioning to prospects, customers, employees, and shareholders." He has done work for Charles Schwab, Coors, FedEx, Microsoft and Frito-Lay.
Corn chips, a new Chicago park—same dif. Gordon's ultimate goal was to generate a name generic enough to appeal to all potential donors. On that task, he succeeded. But the 606 brand carries at least one depressing inevitability: that people are going to call it "The Six."
Album of the week | Kanye West - Yeezus
As we were just walking down State Street to lunch, we overheard a man behind us ask his friend, "Have you heard that new Kanye out today? Man, I heard it was weak." Certainly, the Chicagoan's sixth album is entertaining. Yeezy always has something funny to say—intentionally or not. However, for all the hype of this being the rapper's "punk" record, it turns out to be frustratingly juvenile and cock-centric. Tough Daft Punk beats and clever mash-ups go to waste underneath more Auto-Tune emoting and Lil Wayne–like sex talk. While the new musical directions are appreciated, Kanye West the lyricist of old is sorely missed. The MC is a smart marketer, but his mic skills are, well, weak, like the man on the street said. Read my full review.
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer coming to Broadway Playhouse
Chicago's Emerald City Theatre will join forces with Broadway in Chicago and Milwaukee children's theater First Stage to mount a stage adaptation of the iconic TV special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer this holiday season at the Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place.
The adaptation, penned by First Stage artistic director Jeff Frank and first mounted in Milwaukee last winter, appears to be quite faithful to the 1964 Rankin/Bass stop-motion special in both its visuals and its plotting. The stage show reportedly includes all of the songs from the original, including "A Holly Jolly Christmas" and "The Island of Misfit Toys." (It's not to be confused with Hell in a Handbag Productions' long-running drag parody Rudolph the Red-Hosed Reindeer, which isn't expected to return this year.)
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is scheduled to run November 14 to December 29. Emerald City Theatre's The Cat in the Hat is currently onstage at the Broadway Playhouse. See emeraldcitytheatre.com and broadwayinchicago.com for more information.
It's okay to be a show-off.
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