Northern Trust Renews As Presenting Sponsor of EXPO CHICAGO, In Its Ninth Edition
Northern Trust, a leading provider of wealth management, investment management and asset servicing, has renewed its partnership with EXPO CHICAGO, returning as the Presenting Sponsor of the ninth edition, which will run April 7-10, 2022. Northern Trust has been a sponsor of EXPO CHICAGO since the exposition’s founding in 2012. The renewal builds on a record of support including the annual Northern Trust Purchase Prize, the Northern Trust Anchor Lounge, arts & industry panel programming, and engagement of a global network of national and international clientele. “We are deeply grateful for our longstanding partnership with Northern Trust as their support galvanizes Chicago’s civic leadership and leverages their extraordinary global network of clientele and community to contribute to the success of the exposition,” Tony Karman, EXPO CHICAGO president-director says in a release. “With this trusted financial institution by our side, I am confident that we will carry our previous momentum forward by renewing our place on the international art fair calendar and welcoming the world back to our great city in April.”
DINING & DRINKING
Burning The Hell Out Of Chicago’s Best Char Dogs
Linze Rice at Block Club offers an “ultimate history” of the Chicago char dog. “While Wolfy’s regular hot dog is available the traditional way — steamed — or charred on the grill, its plump jumbo dog is always flame-broiled over a grill with nuggets consisting of a mixture of charcoal and other elements. ‘Some people are wary of it, because, you know, they see it turning darker and getting black, getting charred,’ [co-owner Gus] Romas said. ‘But it seems when they try it, they’re very pleasantly surprised. Some customers didn’t know hot dogs could come that way.'”
In Lincoln Park, Dinner And A Movie And Calls To The Cops
Restaurant Dinner and a Movie has reopened after someone fired shots outside last month, reports Block Club. “But well before that, cops were showing up daily, its owner said. ‘For the neighbors, I feel like it’s too many Black people, but you can’t just say there’s too many Black people so you have to say that something illegal is going on,’ Rashad Bailey said. ‘So they make claims that we’re not an actual restaurant and we’re a tavern that’s not actually cooking food. The neighbors will call the police and say there’s battery, property damage, noise or some type of abuse, but they’re made-up 911 calls because up until the one shooting, nothing has happened; otherwise those 911 calls would have found something.’”
Twinkly Party Bar In River North Stacks The Burgers
“DineAmic Hospitality has a reputation for excess, and the Chicago restaurant group behind Bandit in West Loop, uses playful food and drink and a generous helping of pop culture nostalgia… That approach worked for ten years at Public House, but [that] River North bar closed in October for a remodel and rebrand. Enter Radio Room, a sparkling new bar with tiered towers of fancy bar food, glittery cocktails, and live music with DJs… At 10,000 square feet, the main space is divided into an East Bar Room and West Bar Room, each with a hundred-foot concrete and copper bar alongside booths and high-top tables. Though Public House’s exposed brick walls remain, the space is decidedly more bright and stylish, outfitted in shades of gold. 200,000 RGB pin-twinkle lights shine from the ceiling resembling a blanket of glittering stars. Staff can set lights to strobe, change colors and even spell out words, creating what [management] hopes will be a ‘wow moment’ as musicians, DJs, and other performers keep the energy high.”
Taste Of Andersonville Returns In Mid-August
The Andersonville Chamber of Commerce’s annual Taste of Andersonville returns Wednesday, August 11 from 5pm-8pm. “This year’s Taste will feature two cultivated routes, the Fork route and the Spoon route, allowing hungry foodies to travel up and down Clark Street,” the ACC says in a release, “sampling more than twenty dinner, drink and dessert options from Andersonville’s restaurant district. Vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free options are available. Learn more or purchase tickets here.
Christina Tosi Netflix Series Picks Chicago Pastry Chef Maya-Camille Broussard
“Bake Squad” premieres on Netflix on August 11, reports Eater, “and features Chicago pastry chef Maya-Camille Broussard (Justice of the Pies). In each of the eight episodes, four talented bakers battle it out to see whose dessert will be chosen for someone’s special occasion, from a sweet 16 birthday party to a wedding anniversary. Milk Bar founder Christina Tosi, who built an empire on delicious cookie dough and serves as executive producer for Bake Squad personally selected each chef for the series.”
FILM & TELEVISION
“Finding Yingying” Nominated For News Emmy
Nominations for the 42nd Annual News and Documentary Emmys have been announced, and Kartemquin-produced “Finding Yingying” is nominated for Outstanding Investigative Documentary for its showing on Pluto TV.
Thirty-Ninth Reeling Festival Set
“Reeling: The 39th Chicago LGBTQ+ International Film Festival,” the second-longest-running event of its kind in the world, will launch a hybrid in-person and virtual festival that begins September 23, with opening night at the Music Box and in-person screenings to follow at the Landmark Theater, presented by Chicago Filmmakers, Gilead and AARP. Feature films, shorts programs and special guests will be announced soon. More here.
Sam Raimi-Produced Thriller Moves To Chicago
Director-producer Sam Raimi is among the notable producers on Paramount’s thriller “Be My Eyes,” reports Screen. It will work from Cinespace Studios later this year. The director is Norwegian Lars Klevberg, whose work includes “Polaroid.”
LIT
Oak Park Senior Named One Of National Student Poets
RC Davis, a senior from Oak Park, was selected from thousands of students in grades 10-11 who submitted more than 19,000 works to the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards to be appointed as the 2021 National Student Poet representing the Midwest Region of the United States. He will be officially appointed in Washington in September. The program was started in 2012 by Michelle Obama, and originally housed under the Presidential Arts Committee. Now in its tenth year, it is a partnership between Scholastic’s Alliance for Young Artists and Writers and the Institute of Museum and Library Services. “To be appointed as a National Student Poet is considered the nation’s highest honor for youth poets presenting original work,” a release relays. The poets will commit to a year of community engagement. “In years past, projects have included focused healing work around the Tree of Life Synagogue shooting, outreach to environmental activist groups, non-neurotypical advocacy, and workshops within Muslim communities about gender inequity.”
MEDIA
Gannett Has Sold Twenty-Four Publications Back To Local Owners
Penny Abernathy, visiting professor at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications told Mark Jacob in a piece for Northwestern Medill’s Local News Initiative, “All things being equal, local ownership is always best for the community where the newspaper is located. That’s because a local owner is going to know that market and know the residents.” Following up, Poynter discovered mega-chain Gannett has sold twenty-four properties back to local ownership, including, in Illinois, The Carmi Times, The Advocate Press, Newton Press Mentor, Jasper County Daily News, Richland County Shopper, Teutopolis Press and the Southern Illinois Trader.
Another Tribune Goodbye, Another Heartfelt Tribute
Chicago Tribune Katherine Rosenberg-Douglas says farewell to senior content editor Kathleen O’Malley: “No one reads bylines. That’s the first thought in my head as my friend and coworker Kathleen O’Malley moves on to the [New York Times] after nine years of making the Tribune a better newspaper, daily. Stick with me for a thread on my friend Kathleen O’Malley – a name you should’ve known all along. Bylines are a marker of who wrote the words & readers rightfully don’t care. They just want the news; the people behind it shouldn’t matter, because we’re just the ones explaining indisputable facts. It’s the reputation of the paper that matters. [She] upheld that reputation. Every day, every story went through her. She was the last line of defense. She was the one who literally let reporters sleep better at night & not wake up in a cold sweat worrying about an error. Kathleen caught it; she caught them all. And I’m not just talking about eagle eyes. Facts: The currency in which we deal. Kathleen was the one who called & kindly suggested you may’ve entered the wrong neighborhood. It’s possible you swapped two sources’ names. Maybe it’s a road, not a street. The knowledge of a city and its people- so many facts kept straight. And yet – as I’ve said before in other tributes for other friends who’ve closed the Tribune chapter of their careers – her name is nowhere to be found in the paper. There’s no public recognition for the THOUSANDS of times Kathleen’s brilliant brain has made our work better. A single Twitter thread after 9 years of countless saves, unwavering dedication, the classes she’s taught, the projects she’s led (hello, Tansa!) – it’s not enough. Even if we printed her name in 80 pt font, there’s truly no repaying the debt of gratitude each one of us owes her.”
MUSIC
Sonic Pavilion Festival Starts August 5 At Pritzker Pavilion
Sonic Pavilion Festival, a series of sound installations commissioned by Experimental Sound Studio (ESS) “for the globally unique spatialized overhead trellis loudspeaker array” at Millennium Park’s Jay Pritzker Pavilion, begins August 5 with support from the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events. “Compositions utilize the entire surface of the trellis’ sixty-channel system, resulting in an immersive canopy of sound—a fluid sonic architecture that bridges the focus of a live performance and the majesty of the surrounding cityscape.” Artists featured in the inaugural event include Whitney Johnson, Kioto Aoki, Natalie Chami, I Gusti Ngurah Kertayuda with Bill Parod, Kitundu and Stephan Moore. Each piece runs twenty minutes and will play on every date throughout the Festival. Commissioned works span a range of themes and practices including taiko; Balinese gamelan and dalang; a tribute to the late jazz pianist Carei Thomas; and observations of internal, personal landscapes through transitions. More here.
Logan Center Bluesfest Announces Headliners
The third Logan Center Bluesfest, running October 15-17, broadens its reach, moving to a hybrid model with a series of smaller concerts, conversations and special events in which select programming is offered in-person while all programming is livestreamed for free to audiences around the world. The festival is located at the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts at The University of Chicago on 60th Street. Evening headliner concert programming, which is designed to follow Blues music from its earliest expressions to its most contemporary, includes Daughters and Sons of the Blues: Shemekia Copeland & Ronnie Baker Brooks with guests Lurrie Bell & Steve Bell and Demetria Taylor: “The Logan Center Bluesfest presents the most celebrated and successful progeny of the Blues, and honors Chicago as the home of the largest concentration of Blues families in the world.” Also: “I Ain’t Studdin’ Ya”: Bobby Rush with Jontavious Willis opening, demonstrating how the voices of the Blues elders populate their progeny. Eighty-seven-year-old, two-time Grammy Award-winning Bobby Rush will perform a solo acoustic set, followed by a set with his electric band. With six-and-a-half decades separating their births, opening for Rush will be twenty-four-year-old Delta-style Blues performer Jontavious Willis. Also a dynamic next-generation double bill of “a strange bitter”—a world-premiere film, music composition, and poetry performance by avery r. young and Amir George that pushes boundaries in how live blues music is presented (commissioned by the Logan Center Bluesfest), paired with Butterscotch, performing music that morphs from one genre to the next. The entire festival will be available for viewing via livestream recording at no charge through Sunday, October 24. A limited number of headline concert tickets will go on sale in mid-September. “This is our most ambitious festival to date, Matthew Skoller, Logan Center Bluesfest programming director and Festival organizer says in a release. “We’re bringing together the progeny of Chicago Blues in our ‘Daughters and Sons of the Blues’ program; celebrating intergenerational relationships between artists separated chronologically by six decades but glued together by the songs of their forebears; and exploring the many branches of the Blues tree, from the roots to the fruits!” Details here
Tribute Island Cover-Band Festival Returns to Kenosha
“The nation’s largest tribute-band festival is back and better than ever this weekend in downtown Kenosha,” Tribute Island reports in a release. “Tribute Island, the cover-band music extravaganza that has seen thousands flood the city’s lakefront in years past, returns bigger and better this summer – three days and nights, five stages and more than fifty of the region’s top tribute bands.” The event is July 30-August 1, dockside on the grounds of Kenosha’s Wyndham Garden Hotel. “Some might say we are borrowing a page from Austin and its iconic 6th Street,” Happenings magazine publisher Frank Carmichael, the event’s creator, says. “Being dockside puts us in the thick of things, close to the Downtown city center.” The lineup includes such acts as Who’s Who (a Who tribute), Dreamz (Fleetwood Mac), Barracuda (Heart), TNT Chicago (AC/DC), Judas Rising (Judas Priest), and Without U2 (U2). Tickets here.
STAGE
Chris Jones On Decades Of Meeting Jackie Mason
Jackie “Mason and I would have a phone conversation before he arrived in Chicago” for his many, many shows, writes Chris Jones. “This went on for years. I looked forward to these interviews because A) I got an hilarious bespoke comedy performance and B), I had learned that all I had to do in set him off was to pull out the same opening question: ‘So it’s the same old material in this show, right?’ ‘Huh? You won’t hear one joke you’ve heard before… I’m not like the other Jewish comedians who started telling a joke when they’re twenty and are still telling it when they’re ninety. That’s a crime for which people should be put in jail. That’s useless. You wouldn’t go back to somebody’s house to hear the same joke again.’ A decade or so later, I started off with the exact same question. ‘This is fresh-squeezed,’ he said, indignantly. ‘You people sit there with clipboards trying to catch me doing the same jokes. You think you can catch me out. You can’t.'”
ARTS & CULTURE
Cards Against Humanity Seeks Sale At Half-Billion-Dollar Valuation
Chicago-based Cards Against Humanity LLC, maker of the NSFW party game, is exploring a sale, working with an adviser, Moelis & Co., after it received takeover interest, reports Bloomberg. The company expects a $500 million valuation. “One of its co-founders, Max Temkin, stepped down in June 2020 after reports of a toxic work environment… Temkin no longer participates in the business but is still one of the owners of the company, which is run and controlled by its co-founders.”
Tribune Editorial Board On How To Have A Chicago Casino
The Tribune’s editorial board considers why Chicago can’t attract gambling operators for a Chicago casino. “Why has Chicago struggled to attract the most desirable operators? The problems aren’t new but they’re persistent impediments, beginning with the proposed tax of 40%. That’s better than the absurd 72% rate first proposed by the city, but it’s still an onerous burden for any company looking for a return on an investment likely to exceed $2 billion, especially given that the city’s request for proposals requires a hotel, meeting rooms, shops, restaurant spaces and, this being Chicago, a variety of obligations to use various local beneficiaries as subcontractors and sub-operators,” they write. “And there is hefty casino competition on Chicago’s doorstep, much of it operating in what these companies rightly see as far more favorable climates… From a business point of view, Chicago has… risk factors not directly associated with gambling. Public safety is one. Corruption is another. The historical track record isn’t great… Industry experts tell us that the tax rate is so high that the only way to make a profit with such a burden is to put up the kind of cheap, depressing, vanilla box that does nothing to enhance the city, and pales in comparison to the amenity-rich operations you can find in Las Vegas, sure, but also New Buffalo. The City Council has to stop demanding and start facilitating: 40% of little or nothing isn’t a solution for Chicago. Second, the city has to see the gambling part of this project as merely a portion of what could be achieved with the right kind of tourist-oriented development.”
MacArthur Foundation Announces $80 Million In Grants To Advance Racial And Ethnic Justice
MacArthur announced about $80 million in grants toward advancing racial and ethnic justice. The Equitable Recovery grants are funded by MacArthur’s social bonds, issued in response to the crises of the pandemic and racial inequity. “As we emerge from this moment of crisis, we have an opportunity to improve the critical systems that people and places need to thrive. Our systems and structures must be rebuilt,” MacArthur President John Palfrey said in a release. “We are committed to ensuring that our response to the pandemic is focused on supporting the reimagining of systems that create a more just, equitable, and resilient world.” MacArthur is supporting work in four areas:
[1] Racial Justice Field Support, with a focus on combatting anti-Blackness, supports building Black power by supporting Black-led and -focused philanthropic organizations. MacArthur also will take a leadership role in positioning reparations and racial healing as issues that philanthropy helps to meaningfully address.
[2] Self-determination of Indigenous Peoples supports uplifting Indigenous communities to enable autonomous pursuit of a recovery guided by their priorities, cultures, and practices;
[3] Public Health Equity and COVID-19 Mitigation and Recovery supports improving access to resources for immediate health challenges while advancing new policies, models, and structures to support a more equitable and resilient public health sector in the future;
[4] An Equitable Housing Demonstration Project supports restoring communities and reducing incarceration and housing instability by generating housing solutions that help to permanently end the use of jails and prisons as housing of last resort. “MacArthur identified the areas through a participatory process with a diverse group of external advisors, who informed our strategic approach. Our participatory process aimed to center the voices of communities that are affected by our decisions and have a stake in our grantmaking outcomes.”
Chicago’s Cultural Treasures Initiative Awards $14.4 Million For BIPOC Arts
Administered by the nonprofit financial institution IFF, forty organizations that contribute to the history, culture, vibrancy, and identity of communities of color in greater Chicago will be receiving $14.4 million through the new Chicago’s Cultural Treasures initiative, the Joyce Foundation announces. Selected through a participatory and community-led grantmaking process, these forty organizations will receive awards ranging from $140,000 to $575,000. Funders of this four-year initiative include the Ford Foundation, MacKenzie Scott and Chicago-based funders, including the Joyce Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, Polk Bros Foundation, Terra Foundation for American Art and Walder Foundation. The awarded organizations: Africa International House USA; Aguijon Theater Company of Chicago; American Indian Center; Asian Improv aRts Midwest; The Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians; Black Ensemble Theater; Chicago Blues Museum; Chicago Jazz Philharmonic; Chicago West Community Music Center; Community Film Workshop of Chicago; Congo Square Theatre Company; Cuerdas Clasicas Inc.; Deeply Rooted Dance Theater; Diasporal Rhythms; DuSable Museum of African American History; eta Creative Arts Foundation, Inc.; Gingarte Capoeira; Inner-City Muslim Action Network; International Latino Cultural Center of Chicago; Jazz Institute of Chicago; Joel Hall Dancers & Center; Little Black Pearl Workshop; Live the Spirit Residency / Englewood Jazz Festival; Mexican Folk Dance Company of Chicago; Muntu Dance Theatre; Musical Arts Institute; National Cambodian Heritage Museum & Killing Fields Memorial; National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts & Culture; Natya Dance Theatre; Puerto Rican Arts Alliance; Red Clay Dance Company; Segundo Ruiz Belvis Cultural Center; Silk Road Rising; Sones de Mexico; South Shore Drill Team; South Side Community Art Center; Teatro Vista; Threewalls; UrbanTheater Company; and West Point School of Music/Epic Steel.
