Conceived by J. C. Steinbrunner, an artist, and Tom MacDonald, the owner of The Bluebird, The Salon Series is in part a response to the weak economy. But it’s also a reaction against typical gallery culture: How can artists show their work outside of the gallery system? How to you get people to talk about art in a different way?…
The pianist Laurence Hobgood is perhaps best known as the long-time collaborator and accompanist of the singer Kurt Elling, in equal measure for his sterling keyboard work and ingenious small-group arrangements. Last year, Hobgood put out the tremendous solo/duo album, When the Heart Dances, with the legendary bassist Charlie Haden; but for this trip back to Chicago he’ll lead a sextet of old local friends, including the saxophonists John Wojciechowski and Pat Mallinger…
“I don’t feel that nervous until the theatre starts to fill up . . . and then I start to panic,” said my friend, who wrote two of the sketches in “Wait, It Gets Better,” a show that recently played at Donny’s Skybox Theater, one of the venues for Second City’s Training Center. I saw the show a couple Fridays ago, and, watching him greet friends in the ticket line, I felt his pain…
Born in Chicago’s Michael Reese Hospital in 1950, Edward Hirsch turned 60 this year—which means he had finally run out of excuses for not putting together a collection of verse culled from his seven books of poetry. “I couldn’t say I was too young anymore for a book of selected poems,” says Hirsch…
POCKET GUIDE: A cultural short-list for May, in order of buzz
Our top five picks for things to do this week: 22 Years from Home … Natalie Merchant, Corinne Bailey Rae … beer, booze, and books … free stuff
I kicked myself at least a dozen times last year for missing The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity, Kristoffer Diaz’s full nelson of a play, ostensibly about wrestling, in its world premiere at Victory Gardens. I kicked myself again last week, when the play was named a Pulitzer finalist. So when I had the chance to attend Monday night’s premiere of another Diaz play, Welcome to Arroyo’s, running through May 16th at American Theater Company, I jumped…
Lost Boy Found: A new documentary follows one young man home
Until last Wednesday, I had never seen T. J. Jagodowski and Dave Pasquesi’s famous iO show TJ & Dave. I’d seen each of them perform in other settings—at The Second City, in Jagodowski’s many commercials for the Sonic fast-food chain, or at the Chicago Improv Festival—but never their two-man, one-hour show on Wednesday nights at 11 p.m., mainly because it conflicted with falling asleep on the couch and watching SportsCenter…
The 36-seat venue that plays host to Facets classes—six-week-long film series with facilitated discussions—is the most uncomfortable theatre ever. Some of the seats are broken. The ceiling has decades-old water stains. The room is usually too hot, although once in a while it’s too cold. The ladies’ bathroom has all sorts of warnings about slow flush and seems always on the verge of running out of paper. Even the popcorn is bad…
