Arts & Events: November 2009 Archives

With the 28th edition of Reeling, Chicago's very own Lesbian & Gay International Film Festival already gaying up movie screens all over the city, Chicagoist thought we'd take a closer look at a few of the titles being screened for you queer cinephiles out there. First up: Pornography: A Thriller, a film directed by David Kittredge, playing Sunday, Nov. 8 at the Landmark Theater.

If you’re a fan of River North Dance (or even if you’re not) - you’re going to want to grab tickets to the company’s “20th Anniversary Fall Engagement” - the company won’t be in town again until February.

We're getting closer to tomorrow's Half Acre Brewery's Charitable Chili Cook-Off this Saturday benefiting The Arts of Life and if you haven't gotten your tickets yet, get a move on! They're still only $5 through 5 p.m. today; you'll pay $10 at the door tomorrow. And if you think your chili has what it takes to win it all, $20 will get your entry in (besides other prizes, we'll also be featuring the winner right here). Last we heard, there are almost 20 different chili entries so you'll be able to stuff your face with some quality food. There will also be six different raffle prizes handed out, there'll be Half Acre beer, and the folks from Nice Cream will have samples at the ready. So what are you waiting for? Grab some tickets and swing by. I'll be there as will Rob, who gets to taste all of the entries as one of the cook-off's judges, so be sure to come say hi if you can make it.

The sun is shining! It's kind of warm! And this is how that all makes us feel!

The Interview Show is a humorous monthly Chicago-based talk show hosted by quick-witted syndicated columnist Mark Bazer the first Friday of every month. The show is a similar format to late night TV talk shows set in the intimate space of the Hideout. Past guests have included writer Jen Lancaster, chef Rick Bayless, interior designer Nate Berkus and filmmaker Steve Conrad.

The whirlwind that is The Grates hails from Australia and threatens to take down everything in its path. Singer Patience Hodgson dominates the proceedings with voice that flips from sweet trill to all encompassing roar into playground chant without missing a beat. Through it all she rides a pleasant melodicism that contrasts brightly with the churning three-chord punk guitars carrying most of the songs forward.

Who says music can't prosper in this economy? Local nerd power-pop-rockers I Fight Dragons just raised a cool $10,000 for their band in under 48 hours. They offered fans a chance to buy a lifetime subscription to the band's music -- including anything and everything they ever release -- for $100, and limited the number of available subscriptions to 100.

If you missed the Eccentric Soul Revue last spring, or if you went and had such a great time pretending you were rolling around 1970's Chicago in a blue soft-top Monte Carlo with bench seats and options air conditioning, fear not! The one-of-a-kind live-action reissue is back! Chicago's very own Numero Group is bringing the amazing show back to the stage tomorrow night at Lincoln Hall.

This month is National Novel Writing Month — Nanowrimo for short. A time for cranking (crunking?) out 50,000 words of elegant prose — or crap, depending. A time (30 days, to be precise) within a time (that lacks a foreseeable end, to be depressing) of widespread unemployment among writers, many of whom used to get paid to wordsmith. Damn, man. Those were the days.

Writer Claire Zulkey is bringing the funny back to the Hideout for another round of her excellent Funny Ha Ha series. Funny Ha-Ha rounds up Zulkey’s funny friends for a reading of pieces they’re particularly proud of and a few performance pieces. Low-key literature plus a dash of multimedia from Zulkey’s husband, Steve Delahoyde, equals big laughs at the Hideout next Wednesday.

Had Jonze and Eggers been honest in just what audience their adaptation of a beloved and twisted children's book truly was, the end result would've looked like this.

Nikki Finke is reporting Oprah Winfrey is moving her show to the Oprah Winfrey Network by 2011, and will be moving production from Chicago to L.A.

Gottlieb Hall at the Merit School of Music, 38 S. Peoria, 7:30 p.m., $20-$40, $10 students

We never thought we'd be writing this sentence, but The Black Heart Procession's "Rats" sees the brooding, creepily atmospheric band ... getting funky? O.K., maybe funky is too strong a word, but the staccato guitars of the chorus play against the gentle surge of the drums to create a milieu that at least encourages finger-tapping, if not an adventurous toe-tap or three. We keep finding ourselves migrating toward their latest, Six, to slowly allow ourselves to sink and submit to its dark charms. They've always been hard to label -- are they goth, indie, sludge, Leonard Cohen swagga? -- and this album's thirteen songs will do nothing to clarify the band's intent enough to slot them into one niche or another. And frankly, we wouldn't want that.

Where Did All My People Go is an apt title for the full length debut from The Prairie Cartel. The band -- Scott Lucas, Blake Smith, and Mike Willison -- is stocked with some of the survivors from the mid-'90s Chicago music scene that never stopped producing new music. The trio comes from a guitar heavy past but their mutual love of electronic music brought them together to synthesize their own take on motivating the denizens of the dance floor.

Lollapalooza is taking suggestions for next year's line-up. We're not sure if this is just a feel-good community effort or if your suggestions will really matter, but either way it can't hurt to pitch your favorite bands to their booking agent, right? Do us a favor and write-in BLUR as your first pick and feel free to follow it up with any of your own faves.

Next month, Second City alumni will converge on Chicago to help celebrate the comedy theater's 50th anniversary.

It's been a funny seven weeks at ComedySportz where the eight contestants of Impress These Apes have given it their all in an effort to, well, impress the Apes. And it all comes to a head tonight as the eight contestants go all out. The challenge? Just impress the Apes. But that's not the easiest thing to do and if history is any judge, the contestants will pull out all the stops in order to wear the crown of "Least Pitiful Human." Be sure to swing by their site and spend the remainder of your afternoon catching up on the contestants' performances in preparation for tonight's finale. Only 12 points separates first place from last place and special fourth judge will be there tonight to add to the drama.

We can't imagine reminiscing first loves and past friendships without the appearance of the ubiquitous mixtape. While kids these days might opt for a CD, or even a .zip file, our fond memories center around hours spent alone in our room, painstakingly crafting the perfect expression of our teenage emotions onto a double-sided cassette tape. We mailed our mixtapes to pen pals we'd never met, slipped them into the locker of a crush and when we were scorned, our mixtapes became little plastic outlets for misery and rage.

If you're sick of looking at paintings and sculptures all the danged time, for god's sake already, then maybe it's time to give your eardrums a work-out. And here's the perfect venue to do so: the 10th annual Outer Ear Festival of Sound, a celebration of the sonic arts in Chicago presented by the Experimental Sound Studio, the Sound Department of the School of the Art Institute and several other local cultural organizations. The Festival begins today and stretches over the next few months, with poetry, installations and more. Here's what's on the menu:

Just a little wink wink, nudge nudge to remind you about Half Acre Brewery's Charitable Chili Cook-Off this Saturday. It benefits The Arts of Life, a non-profit community that uses art to assist developmentally disabled adults discover personal growth, and is being co-presented by Nice Cream and Chicagoist. Yours truly (this is Rob typing) will be among the panel of judges selecting a winner, who will receive a trophy and a signed and framed drawing of the original picture that inspired the cook-off by Arts of Life artist Kris Shenkel. (Oh--and the winner also gets a coveted spot in one of our gallery posts.)

We'll admit, we're excited to see the new television show that follows Steven Seagal as he works with the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Department in Louisiana (the western suburbs of New Orleans). But what if a similar reality show featured our own Chicago Police Department? Would we watch? Yeah, we would. While no celebrity is involved, Chicago's resident gossip monger Michael Sneed is reporting this morning that the CPD is this close to reaching a deal with A&E to produce the show, Missing Persons: Chicago. CPD Superintendent Jody Weis has given the green light on his end but still needs approval from the City Council, including the Council's Police Committee, which will take up the issue in two weeks. The show is being put together by Chicago native Gary Sherman who has brought us such cinematic masterpieces as "Vice Squad."

If you're a fan of the Discovery Channel, you're in luck because you'll have a few chances to see the Windy City on television. Gapers Block points out that Dirty Jobs (8 pm) will include a glimpse of the West Chicago branch of Sims Recycling Solutions. But there's more. Ghost Lab follows (9 pm) and, just a few weeks after paying a visit to Liar's Club, the crew take on some ghosts that are apparently haunting the Metro. Spooky!

There were plenty of concert options last week to celebrate Halloween, but none may have been quite as raucous as the Freaky Deaky show held Friday night at Congress Theatre. Featuring Chromeo, Crystal Castles and Boys Noize, the night was filled with sweaty bodies, inebriation, surely some illegal substances and, of course, copious amounts of fancy footwork. There are dance parties and then there are proper dance parties--this had drinking tea with the Queen beat.

What separates Lipstick & Lyrics—the annual fundraiser for Chicago Gay Men’s Chorus (CGMC)—from other boys-in-drag events such as Night of a 100 Drag Queens? “Every performer that takes the stage will be singing their vocals live,” gushes Brandon Vejseli, chairperson of this year’s event. “No lip-synching for us!”

We've decided to cease apologizing for Weezer. The band is what it is. If you're looking for Rivers Cuomo to ever attain the heights of Pinkerton or The Blue Album you're always going to be sorely disappointed. And Jesus if the man doesn't make it hard to even enjoy his music when he throws garbage like Weezer Snuggies and duets with Kennny G into the mix.

Didn't get tickets to the sold-out Jesus Lizard shows on Thanksgiving weekend? Fret not! The fierce Chicago foursome has just announced they'll be playing Metro for New Year's Eve this year. Tickets for the 18+ show go on sale this Saturday at noon.

Ah, Bill Simmons aka ESPN's The Sports Guy. To know him is to either love him or hate him. To those that love him, his constant pop-culture riffs and irreverent takes on today's athletes make him seem like one of us: a fan. To those that would rather see him deleted from ESPN's archives, he's a Boston sports homer whose schtick has long since worn thin. Us? We love the guy. While his writing occasionally comes across as just a tad too jokey (sometimes undermining some good points), we can dismiss his homerism - at least he's honest and upfront about it - he's producing an entertaining podcast, he's doesn't suffer for a lack of passion, and he definitely knows sports, particularly basketball.

The Men Who Stare At Goats -- based on an actual government program dedicated to the results of some REALLY intense goat staring, is one of the few meetings we're anxiously awaiting. Well, a lucky reader of Chicagoist need not wait like we mere mortals! We have a pair of tickets to the screening in Chicago on Wednesday at 7 p.m. that includes access to an exclusive after-party! No word on if goats will be present at either event.

Yes, we realize you are dead tired and possibly still hungover from Halloween weekend revelry, but you won't want to sleep on tonight's special guest at Debonair's Monday night weekly, Rehab.