AltWeeklies Wire
Flood Damage: You Need a Good Reason to Rewrite Historynew
Rebecca Gilman's A True History of the Johnstown Flood is shot through with fictions and omissions. Gilman owns up to taking one such liberty in her program note, acknowledging that she invented almost all her characters.
Chicago Reader |
Justin Hayford |
03-29-2010 |
Theater
A Wicker Park Mainstay and Two Other Spots Make Adjustments for the Economic Climatenew
"I'll remember the food this time," said the friend I brought to the Southern, who'd accompanied me when I reviewed this Wicker Park restaurant's previous incarnation, Chaise Lounge.
Chicago Reader |
Heather Kenny, Anne Spiselman and Mike Sula |
03-15-2010 |
Food+Drink
Lisa Loomer's 'Distracted' Tries a Twist on the Old Theme of Addictionnew
Over the last half century or so, the family that self-medicates has become a trope of American literature. Hell — it's become a trope of America, and our theater's been the source of some of its most potent expressions.
Chicago Reader |
Tony Adler |
02-16-2010 |
Theater
Sexist Beatdown: The Soft Boner of Classic American Literaturenew
Why don’t we sit around praising the “unwieldy, impossible machines” (or, you know, penises) of white, heterosexual guys who are still writing masturbatory prose about lesbian threesomes involving strap-ons, after all these years?
Chicago Reader |
Amanda Hess |
01-11-2010 |
Commentary
Inside Chicago's Charcuterie Undergroundnew
The charcuterie resistance is growing. Professional restaurant chefs without legal licensing or dedicated facilities cure their own meats out of view of the health inspectors all the time.
Chicago Reader |
Mike Sula |
11-30-2009 |
Food+Drink
Mozzarella is Fast, Easy, Inexpensive and Delicious to Make at Home? I Beg to Differ.new
"I don't think it's going to work," I finally admitted to my friend Emily as I tried for the dozenth time to stir the mess of milk solids in the bowl together into cheese.
Chicago Reader |
Julia Thiel |
11-16-2009 |
Food+Drink
Chicago Chefs Invest in Rare Breed of Pig Said to be the Wagyu of the Pork Worldnew
Mangalitsas are an old Austro-Hungarian breed that had no presence in the United States until about three years ago. Like other old breeds, Mangalitsas are lard-type pigs, fattening well -- if slowly -- and producing juicy marbled meat.
Chicago Reader |
Mike Sula |
11-16-2009 |
Food+Drink
The Made-Up Life and Real Death of Clyde Angelnew
The identity of a popular but mysterious outsider artist is revealed. Or so it seems.
Chicago Reader |
Jeff Huebner |
10-05-2009 |
Art
Chicago's Olympic Bid: What's In It for the Arts?new
Why are the city's nonprofit cultural institutions lining up behind a bid that looks dicey enough to send almost half the sports-besotted Chicago public running the other way?
Chicago Reader |
Deanna Isaacs |
09-14-2009 |
Sports
Chicago's Bloomingdale Trail: Urban Oasis or Devil's Playground?new
Despite easy access and great publicity, the 2.7-mile stretch of abandoned rail bed isn't slated to open as a park till at least 2016. Whose job is it to secure it until then?
Chicago Reader |
John Greenfield |
08-17-2009 |
Recreation
Sportswriters Can't Decide Whether Steroids is a Black Mark or a Gray Areanew
Baseball scribes would rather moralize about performance-enhancing drugs than make hard decisions about whether their use should keep players out of the Hall of Fame.
Chicago Reader |
Michael Miner |
07-27-2009 |
Sports
A New Crop of Scrappy Troupes is Making Opera Accessible in Chicagonew
Chicago has a new crop of stereotype-busting little opera groups playing at bargain prices in intimate venues -- including the neighborhood pub. Faced with the traditional opera world's shrinking ticket sales, dying audiences, and dearth of opportunity, these artist-entrepreneurs are looking to crack that world open and cozy up to the masses.
Chicago Reader |
Deanna Isaacs |
07-27-2009 |
Theater
An Odd Way to Honor Daniel Burnhamnew
The man behind the Plan of Chicago was a doer, a pragmatist, a builder of consensus. The folks behind the architectural component of his centennial tribute must've been thinking of someone else.
Chicago Reader |
Lynn Becker |
07-20-2009 |
History
Roberto Benigni Puts His Love for Dante's 'Divine Comedy' Onstagenew
The exuberant and very talkative Italian clown Roberto Benigni's one-man show In Tutto Dante is built around Benigni's passion for Dante Alighieri's The Divine Comedy, and -- though performed mostly in English -- culminates in a reading of a canto in Italian.
Chicago Reader |
Tony Adler |
06-15-2009 |
Theater
There's Nowhere in America Quite Like Detroit Right Nownew
The last few years have been really bad for Detroit. Odd as it may sound, this is why you should visit now. If and when money ever comes in, you can be sure much of its eerie beauty will be lost forever. Meanwhile, it's Beyond Thunderdome.
Chicago Reader |
Jonathan Mahalak |
05-18-2009 |
History
