ANDY A GO GO: Dean & Britta provide a soundtrack for Warhol’s Screen Tests

THE FIVE

Don’t-miss events for Wed 03.04.09 through Tue 03.10.09

1

concerts  Dean & Britta*
Andy Warhol begat the Factory, which begat The Velvet Underground and Nico, which begat Dean Wareham, an indie rocker who has made a career of emulating the Velvet’s chiming songs—first with bands Galaxie 500 and Luna, then with his Luna bandmate and wife, Britta Phillips, playing Nico to his Lou Reed. Now the couple comes full circle with the concert 13 Most Beautiful … Songs from Andy Warhol’s ‘Screen Tests,’ a live soundtrack set to Warhol’s silent, slow-mo film portraits of Factory regulars.
GO: Mar 7 at 7:30 and 10. $25. Museum of Contemporary Art, 220 E Chicago Ave. mcachicago.org

2

theatre  Mauritius
A thriller about stamp collecting? Don’t let philately’s inherent geekishness throw you. Playwright Theresa Rebeck (NYPD Blue, L.A. Law) goes postal in a story we guarantee you’ll get stuck on. Bonus: The fabulous Rick Snyder—also at the helm of Steppenwolf’s Art, onstage now—directs.
GO: Previews thru Mar 4; $25-$50. Regular run thru Apr 5; $25-$55. Northlight Theatre, 9501 Skokie Blvd, Skokie. northlight.org

3

concerts  Tapes ’n Tapes*
Nearly two decades after the Pixies and Pavement defined the vocabulary of indie rock, this next-gen band from Minneapolis repeats it back with a perfect diction those forebearers never attempted.
GO: Mar 7 at 9. $16. Metro, 3730 N Clark St. metrochicago.com

4

farrago  Ashes of American Flags*
Diehard Wilco heads: Be among the first—and only—Chicagoans to see this concert flick, shot during a 2008 tour, on the big screen. A Q&A with directors Brendan Canty of the band Fugazi and Christoph Green follows. The screening is part of the inaugural Chicago International Movies and Music Festival, a sprawling lineup of music videos, documentaries, concerts, and workshops unspooling citywide; see the Web site for details.
GO: Mar 9 at 7:30 and 10. $10. Music Box Theatre, 3733 N Southport Ave. cimmfest.org

5

farrago  Mystery and More Book Fair
Not a fan of the whodunit genre? Don’t balk; do book it to the Newberry’s annual paperback sale. About one third of the 7,500 or so volumes up for grabs fall into the “and more” category: Think sci-fi and romance.
GO: Mar 6 from noon-6; Mar 7 from 9-2. Free entry; prices start at 50 cents. Newberry Library, 60 W Walton St. www.newberry.org

BREAKING NEWS

classical Youtube Champs
The Youtube Symphony Orchestra, a freshly minted classical group whose prospective members auditioned by posting clips of themselves on Youtube, announced its lineup Monday. Congrats to two locals: tuba player Andrew Chester, 23, a grad student at DePaul, and trumpeter Colin Oldberg, 22, a senior at Northwestern. On April 15th, the symphony premieres a composition by Tan Dun at Carnegie Hall, but you can catch the seriously precocious Oldberg—who also plays with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and subs for the CSO—this Thursday through Saturday (details below). And we thought Youtube was just for exploding sodas.
GO: Mar 5 at 8; Mar 6 at 1:30; Mar 7 an 8. $17-$199. Symphony Center, 220 S Michigan Ave. cso.org

FREEBIE OF THE WEEK

musuems  Catherine Opie on Robert Mapplethorpe
No slouch with a camera herself, the photographer Opie participates in a panel on another contemporary shooter who sent tremors through the art world (not to mention Capitol Hill) with his controversial images. The chat comes as a companion to Polaroids: Mapplethorpe, an exhibition of early photos foreshadowing themes Mapplethorpe would return to throughout his career.
GO: Mar 7 at 2. Exhibition continues thru Apr 5. Free. Block Museum of Art, 40 Arts Circle Dr, Evanston. blockmuseum.northwestern.edu

*ET CETERA

Spot a young Dennis Hopper, Lou Reed, and Edie Sedgwick in Screen Tests … Read Tapes ’n Tapes suggestions for 10 ways to save money so you can afford concert tickets … watch the Ashes of American Flags trailer

 

PHOTOGRAPH: Michael Lavine