AltWeeklies Wire
Soul Train's Chicago Rootsnew
The show that put black music on TVs across America got its start in Chicago -- and even after it moved to LA, Chicago kept its own version running daily for nearly a decade.
Chicago Reader |
Jake Austen |
10-06-2008 |
Music
Scott and Cara Flaster Release Punishing Music in Beautiful Packagesnew
Seventh Rule has become something of a sanctuary for Chicago bands whose music falls outside the sometimes rigid genre boundaries of mainstream metal, from Indian’s thunderous psychedelic doom to Plague Bringer’s industrial-tinged, drum machine-powered grind.
Chicago Reader |
Miles Raymer |
10-06-2008 |
Music
'Torchwood' Gives Fan Fiction its Headnew
The BBC sci-fi show isn't so much a TV series as a fangirl's wet dream. Where shows like Star Trek and Buffy merely inspired fan fiction, Torchwood gives the impression of having been inspired by it.
Chicago Reader |
Noah Berlatsky |
10-06-2008 |
TV
Smart Guy Bill Maher Makes a Dumb Movie About Religionnew
Maher's first film project, Religulous, is a major disappointment because here, unlike on Real Time, he aims for laughs instead of insight -- and aims low.
Chicago Reader |
J.R. Jones |
10-06-2008 |
Reviews
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra Synergizes Itselfnew
Marketing its music through its own label, the symphony adds value with a new kind of lecture series.
Chicago Reader |
Deanna Isaacs |
09-29-2008 |
Music
'The Lucky Ones': The War Over Therenew
The latest movie about Iraq vets is provocative -- but do Americans want to be provoked?
Chicago Reader |
J.R. Jones |
09-29-2008 |
Reviews
Will the Chicago Tribune Endorse its First Dem for President This Year?new
I'm not at all sure the Tribune will endorse the Republican ticket. There are good reasons why it might not -- but also reasons anyone who wants to respect the Tribune should worry about.
Chicago Reader |
Michael Miner |
09-29-2008 |
Media
Why a Vote for Obama is Not a Vote for Mayor Daleynew
You want to vote Republican, go ahead. But don't justify your vote for McCain as a vote against Daley. You'll be fooling yourself.
Chicago Reader |
Ben Joravsky |
09-22-2008 |
Commentary
'Dr. Vino' Talks 'Wine Politics'new
Wine Politics compares the byzantine, quasi-self-governing appellation system of Bordeaux's wine growers with that of the more government-regulated Napa Valley producers and shows how those individual systems, along with other factors, determine which wines end up in stores, how much they cost, and what they taste like.
Chicago Reader |
Mike Sula |
09-22-2008 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
Fact and Opinion: It's All Just Content Nownew
Internet values are seeping into print journalism, and internet values reward instant punditry, the more flamboyant the better. Simple, solid reporting is OK, but flamboyance is what attracts page hits, and page hits attract advertisers -- enough of them, in a theoretical tomorrow, to keep journalism afloat.
Chicago Reader |
Michael Miner |
09-22-2008 |
Media
'Lakeview Terrace' is One of the Toughest Racial Dramas Hollywood's Seen Since Rodney Kingnew
By scrambling the typical power relationship Lakeview Terrace focuses our attention on power itself, and by plunging into the subject of black bigotry, still relatively taboo in mainstream movies, it gets us closer to the truth of bigotry in all its forms than we're liable to get watching another pious exercise in white atonement.
Chicago Reader |
J.R. Jones |
09-22-2008 |
Reviews
How Kid Rock's Rejection of iTunes Let Others Beat Him on the Charts with His Own Songnew
The Hit Masters' version of "All Summer Long" reached number five on the iTunes single-song sales chart. By the end of the week it had outstripped Kid Rock's version on Billboard's Hot 100, peaking at number 19 while the original was at number 25.
Chicago Reader |
Miles Raymer |
09-22-2008 |
Music
Count Dante Recounts His Seven Years in an Incredibly Strange Fight Clubnew
In his new memoir Beer, Blood, and Cornmeal, Bob Calhoun describes a moment where wrestling grappled with surrealism, and surrealism won out with a suplex powerslam.
Chicago Reader |
Dan Kelly |
09-08-2008 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
'Babylon A.D.' is True to its Literary Source Only in Being Badnew
The film is based on Babylon Babies, a 2001 cyberpunk novel by Maurice G. Dantec, a Frenchman who now lives in Montreal, having renounced France as a sinkhole of secularism and socialism too decadent to protect itself from slow-motion takeover by Islamic immigrants.
Chicago Reader |
Cliff Doerksen |
09-08-2008 |
Reviews
A Vienna Beef Veep Publishes a Tribute to the People Who Sell the Productnew
Bob Schwartz's soon-to-be-released book, Never Put Ketchup on a Hot Dog, is a nostalgic tribute to Chicago's hot dog stands.
Chicago Reader |
Mike Sula |
09-02-2008 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
