Events
Colombian Exposition
“What I love about cumbia is that it’s the music of the people,” said Tiff Itzi-Nallah. Itzi-Nallah spun last Thursday at Zhou B. Arts Center with the People’s DJs Collective, bringing the popular art form into a new context. Traditionally the music of the Colombian peasantry with a distinctive Afro-Caribbean beat, cumbia has begun... »
Floats Your Boat
Three types of people turned out last Sunday for the Chicago Boat, Sports & RV Show: boat people, family people, and conventioneers. The boat people flocked to McCormick Place for the boats. They bought boats (last year’s floor models), sold boats (“Rock-bottom boat show prices!”), and complained about things that were not boats (“Starbucks... »
Paradise Lost
For an Englishman living in Australia, artist Kit Wise has a lot to say about ecology and sprawl in America. In his new piece “Arcadia,” which is on display at the Hyde Park Art Center through April 8, he uses dynamic high-definition digital collages of aerial photos to explore the relationship between ecology and... »
Good Grammar
“Did you bring anything to read?” author Brendan Detzner asked as guests walk into Bad Grammar Theater, which also happens to be his home. Detzner and fellow author Mike Penkas were standing behind a table where their books and T-shirts are displayed for sale. Behind them was an unmade futon with a partially eaten... »
Sticking Up for Lacrosse
Paul looked on appreciatively from the sidelines as his son came off the bench for the first time in the game. Two years younger and a head shorter than the other players around him, Paul Jr. chased down stray balls with his netted stick and an outsized passion that more than compensated for his... »
Polish Nights
Kids are always looking to the weekend to have a good time. That holds true on the South Side of Chicago as it holds true halfway across the world in Poland. Yet while the law restricts under-agers from having too good of time in the States, Poland allows a bit more leniency. A typical... »
In with the new
January is never an easy time. Resolutions made in earnest at the start of the New Year quickly slip away. The realities of daily life reassert themselves and life falls back into its old, familiar patterns. One week into this new year, Aspire, a nonprofit helping individuals with disabilities, and Amigas Latinas, a group... »
Emerge and See
Imagine the shockwaves that would ensue if a slave ship docked at the feet of the Statue of Liberty in present times. Renaissance man Daniel Beaty’s dynamic one-man play “Emergency!,” which landed at the DuSable Museum for two performances this past weekend, attempts to capture that hypothetical moment. Standing alone on a stage set... »
