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…
Hey, Chicago, did you hear? Craft beer in the Windy City is kind of big now. With last month’s Stout Fest, last week’s Craft Brewers Conference, and the opening of three breweries in the past two years (Metropolitan, Half Acre, and, most recently, Revolution in Logan Square), it’s easy to feel a bit saturated—in suds…
I’m still slogging my way through Oprah: A Biography, Kitty Kelley’s latest O-pus (524 pages in length), which hit bookstores yesterday. So I don’t profess to know all that she spills therein. However, I do know the Kitty Kelley methodology, which I studied extensively in the spring and summer of 2008…
Our top five picks for things to do this week: The CSO hires its first DJ in residence (or close enough), plus a new Aaron Sorkin play at Timeline, Hot Chip, Neil Gaiman, and more
