Pencil This In
By Chuck Sudo in Arts & Entertainment on Mar 12, 2008 4:00PM
The listed events were chosen by the editors of Chicagoist and brought to you by the
2009 Toyota Corolla.
Music
Since forming in 2000, the five women who comprise My Damn Butterfly have cultivated a well-earned reputation as one of the most eclectic a cappella groups in the city. Their repertoire (from madrigals to a knock-out version of Prince's "Sexy MF") is as diverse and wide-ranging as their audience; they've shared a stage with everyone from jazz flautist Nicole Mitchell to Can.Ky.Ree. This year is certainly shaping up to be their busiest yet. Hot on the heels of a featured gig at last month's Nina Simone tribute at Elastic, they headline this evening at Uncommon Ground's Devon Avenue location. This evening's gig promises to showcase new songs and resurrect little heard gems.
Listen: My Damn Butterfly- "Le Petit Garçon Malade" and "Fishing Accident."
1401 W. Devon, 9 p.m., $10 suggested donation.
Taking their name from a noted St. Louis Golden Age jazz troupe, the Hamburg, Germany-based Jazz-O-Maniacs fill most of their set lists with music culled from Louis Armstrong's Hot Five and Hot Seven ensemble recordings. But they're far from a nostalgia act, imbuing the music with an energy that makes their playing relevant in the present day. They're taking stage at the sidebar of Fitzgerald's in Berwyn this evening. If you can lindy or swing dance, bring your good shoes.
6615 Roosevelt Rd., Berwyn, 8 p.m., $10.
Book Signing
Linda Faillace's Mad Sheep: The True Story Behind the USDA's War on a Family Farm traces the nightmare she and husband Larry endured in following every USDA guideline to the letter in starting up their Vermont sheep farm, only to be told to destroy their flock because they might spread mad cow disease. Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, the USDA forcibly shut down the farm. The book isn't so much an indictment on the USDA but the American beef industry, which could be affected if consumers believed there was mad cow in the States.
Eno, 505 N. Michigan Ave., 5-7 p.m., free.
Experimental Music
Quartet New Generation leads its audiences into the inner sound world of the recorder, featuring early music side by side with contemporary compositions. Performing on upwards of twenty different recorders of varying sizes and shapes, QNG confirms the recorder s viability as a modern classical instrument. Tonight's concert, co-sponsored by the Department of Cultural Affairs and the Goethe Institut Chicago, will also feature the debut of a new composition by local composer Simon Fink.
Claudia Cassidy Theatre at the Chicago Cultural Center, 77 E. Randolph, 7 p.m.