Photo from the episode “The People We Meet” of “Chicago Fire,” which is shot on the Cinespace Chicago Film Studios campus.
ART
Theaster Gates On Ceramics
Theaster Gates returns to clay at Frieze: “The opening of a major survey themed around his pottery at London’s Whitechapel Gallery, the artist reckoned with the unique value of clay. ‘In other cases, I feel quite like a trickster; it doesn’t matter if a person knows what my intention is,’ he said. ‘With clay, there aren’t any gimmicks.’ His exhibition, ‘A Clay Sermon,’ features sculptures made over the past 20 years, outlining Gates’s evolution, and a film about the artist’s recent ceramics residency at the Archie Bray Foundation in Montana, which reveals, in his words, ‘the ways in which I’m shaped by things, versus me shaping things.'”
DESIGN
Fern Hill Builds Website For Old Town Residents To Review LaSalle & Clark Development
“Fern Hill’s philosophy and approach to development is rooted deeply in genuine community engagement. Part of this commitment is to empower Old Town residents through the use of a comprehensive online tool to help inform Fern Hill of site usage and neighborhood amenity preferences at the outset of the North and LaSalle development process.” The site is here.
Trib Editorial Board Salutes Former Tribune Tower
“The newsroom made its exit from Tribune Tower in 2018. For some, it was a deeply sad departure; others, noting the building’s resident rodents and dated technological amenities, were more sanguine. But we journalists are sentimental by nature and this was home,” writes the Tribune editorial board. “We tip our hat to the developers and designers for the high quality of their work so far on a building that is part of this city’s architectural legacy. In an ideal world, the newsroom would have stayed put, perhaps with new neighbors coming home each night to an energizing reminder of the original purpose of their urban home. But then no one asked us about that.”
Little Village Arch Landmarked
“Although the Little Village arch has been considered a symbol of the Mexican immigrant community in the Midwest since it was built nearly three decades ago, the Commission on Chicago Landmarks this month officially designated it a landmark,” writes Laura Rodríguez Presa at the Trib. “The arch, a gateway to Chicago’s emblematic 26th Street in the Southwest Side neighborhood made up predominantly of immigrants and Mexican Americans, is the first structure designed by an architect of Mexican descent to gain landmark status in the city… The project was borne out of resistance against the anti-Mexican rhetoric at the time. Over the years, the majestic arch, which mirrors structures at the entrance of many villages in Mexico, has become a symbol that empowered the immigrant community to come out of the shadows, Chuy Garcia said.”
Restoration Of 109-Year-Old Norwegian Lutheran Memorial Church Nearly Done
“Construction crews have been rebuilding the church’s crumbling brick facade and making other structural and cosmetic upgrades to the tune of $725,000,” reports Block Club Chicago of work on Logan Square’s Norwegian Lutheran Memorial Church. “It’s the first major renovation of the church since it was completed in 1912. That work is coming to an end later this month… When crews remove the scaffolding covering the church, they’ll unveil a completely restored church facade with mortar original to the 1912 church and updated copper framing around the steeple, among other upgrades.”
Howard Brown Health Nearly Done With Demolition Of Historic Garage
“A hundred-year-old auto garage is being demolished in Edgewater… to make way for a new outpost for Howard Brown Health,” reports Block Club Chicago. The demolition of the building at 5654 North Broadway “angered some neighbors and preservationists who wanted it to remain while the property’s new owner, Howard Brown, considered uses for the site at Hollywood Avenue and Broadway… The auto garage is the second notable North Side building demolished by Howard Brown this year. The health group also tore down pioneering gay bar Little Jim’s in Northhalsted to make way for a new health center.”
DINING & DRINKING
Co-Founder Of Potash Grocery Stores Was Ninety-Two
Melvin Potash, one of three brothers who founded the seventy-one-year-old chain of Potash grocery stores, was ninety-two. He worked for the family business from 1950 to 2017, reports Maureen O’Donnell at the Sun-Times. “The three Potash stores are at 875 North State, 1525 North Clark and Potash Gourmet 44 on the 44th floor of 175 East Delaware, the former John Hancock Center… Until four years ago, Mr. Potash was still going to work at the Clark Street store, where he’d stock the shelves and smile and wave at his regulars, many who became friends.”
FILM & TELEVISION
Cinespace Chicago (And Toronto) Goes For North Of A Billion
TPG Real Estate Partners, which recently bought a stake in Berlin’s Studio Babelsberg, is paying $1.1 billion for Cinespace, reports Deadline. “Eoin Egan, former head of production services at Netflix, will join Cinespace as COO… Cinespace Chicago opened in 2010 and currently operates 33 stages, with an additional 15 stages undergoing development or conversion on more than 60 acres. Illinois has a 30% tax credit that runs through 2026.” TPG, which owns TREP, is a major investor in talent agency CAA, along with ownership interest in Univision, Vice and STX Entertainment.
Greg Hinz at Crain’s: “Cinespace owner Alex Pissios and other members of his family no longer will be involved in active management of the company, with TPG bringing in its own team. But the firm will remain based here and is interested in expanding beyond the fifty-five active soundstages it now operates at two campuses at the old Ryerson Steel distribution facility… Pissios declined all comment on the transaction. His future plans are not known.”
From the TREP press release: “‘Consumer appetite for original content is a growing secular trend that has accelerated through the pandemic, leading to a dramatic increase in the demand to produce new films and television and in turn, a surge in the need for studio space,’ said Avi Banyasz, partner and co-head of TPG Real Estate. ‘We have been studying the content creation and production landscape as an investment theme for a few years, and in that time have developed a relationship with the family behind Cinespace.’… TREP plans to expand the work done by the CineCares Foundation, a platform founded by Cinespace in Chicago in partnership with key productions on site to provide job training and education to underserved communities. The CineCares Foundation aims to empower Chicago residents in these communities by creating opportunities for education and employment in the TV and film industry. The program has provided training to local youth and young adults, giving its apprentices the opportunity to work on Cinespace Chicago campus productions.”
Here’s how the company describes itself: “TPG Real Estate Partners (TREP) is TPG’s dedicated opportunistic real estate equity investment platform. TREP has approximately $5.6 billion of assets under management. Since inception in 2009, TREP has built a differentiated investment portfolio comprised primarily of real estate-rich platforms and portfolios located in the United States and Europe. The foundation of TREP’s investment strategy is a research- and data-driven approach to investment theme generation, allowing us to be highly selective in identifying the most compelling opportunities in specific sectors and geographies. During TREP’s ownership, our value creation strategies focus on driving returns across three critical dimensions: the optimization of property-level performance, the aggregation and curation of strategically aligned portfolios, and the enhancement of platform capabilities. These strategies are frequently pursued in partnership with dedicated management teams.” (More of that here.)
Aleksandar Hemon On Co-Writing The Matrix Sequel
“Writing the new ‘Matrix’ movie with Lana Wachowski and David Mitchell was like playing in the sandbox with my friends,” Aleksandar Hemon tells Chicago magazine. “The best part of working together is imagining worlds and situations. And because I am, relatively speaking, a realist by temperament, sometimes my role in that collaboration is what we call kicking the tires. I get hung up on logical consistency: ‘Well, what if 500 years from now they have a different technology?’ So it’s a very symbiotic situation. And it’s always dynamic. No one says, ‘That’s a bad idea. Let’s not do that.’ It’s always, ‘Yes, and…'”
Sarah Sherman Tears Up “Weekend Update”
Chicago’s “Sarah Squirm” holds her Cole’s Bar open-mike shining light on “Saturday Night Live”‘s “Weekend Update.” Whet Moser tweets: “the sarah squirm revolution.” Gregory Pratt: “Making Chicago and [the Hideout] proud.” It’s some distance from the Cole’s open mike. Here’s the video.
MEDIA
Journalist Danny Fenster Handed Eleven-Year Sentence From Myanmar Military Dictatorship Kangaroo Court
“Danny Fenster, an American journalist who has been imprisoned in Myanmar since May, was found guilty of three charges on Friday and given an eleven-year prison term, the toughest possible sentence, his lawyer said,” reports the New York Times. “The ruling came during a closed hearing in the city of Yangon. The lawyer, U Than Zaw Aung, said the charges stemmed from news coverage in Myanmar Now, a hard-hitting outlet that Mr. Fenster has not worked for in more than a year… Mr. Fenster said he would not appeal the ruling because ‘the orders came from above and it would not matter whether he appealed or not’… The sentence seemed to be the latest signal that Myanmar’s military, which seized power in February, would not bow to pressure, including sanctions, from the United States and other countries.”
Dan Sinker: “Danny Fenster has been sentenced to eleven years in Myanmar for performing acts of journalism. The US has utterly failed him. Danny was a student of mine at Columbia. He was curious and diligent and everything you hope for in a budding journalist. He went on to forge his own path, working at independent outlets here and abroad. He spoke truth to power. He did the job. I am heartbroken and angry. Danny’s family has worked tirelessly to keep his story out there. He was snatched at the airport by the Myanmar military back in May, just before he boarded a flight back to Michigan to visit his family for the first time in years. His grandma is 95. She survived the Holocaust. I don’t know what the US should have done to secure his release, but clearly they have not done anywhere near enough. I can’t help but wonder if Ted Cruz hold on dozens of State Department confirmations plays a role in their anemic response, but there’s blame enough to go ’round. Freedom of the press is a core principle of this country. Benjamin Franklin’s grave simply reads ‘printer.’ We owe our journalists far more than they get and we owe Danny Fenster even more than that. We owe him his freedom, lost doing the job he loved and the job we need.”
Deutsche Welle: “Myanmar’s military rulers have shut down several independent media outlets. More than a hundred journalists have been arrested, with thirty still in prison. The Committee to Protect Journalists rights group said in a report in July that Myanmar’s rulers had effectively criminalized independent journalism. More than 1,200 civilians have been killed in protests against the junta, according to an estimate by rights groups. About 10,000 have been arrested, and thousands have fled the country.”
Reuters: Fenster “is the first Western journalist sentenced to prison in recent years in Myanmar, where a February 1 coup by the military against an elected government led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi ended a decade of tentative steps towards democracy and triggered nationwide protests. His trial had not been made public and a spokesman for the junta did not immediately respond to a request for comment.”
Reporting for WBEZ, “Jesse De La Pena caught up with Gramaphone’s proprietor Michael Serafini to talk about the cultural significance of record stores, how the store has weathered the pandemic, and whether the stalwart record shop has reaped the benefits of the current vinyl resurgence.” Serafini: “Overall, the store’s been doing better. It’s actually been decent. A lot of it is fueled by tourists who haven’t been traveling since the pandemic and are coming, ‘It’s been two years since I’ve been here, it’s been a year and a half.’ Local DJs, there hasn’t necessarily been an uptick in them coming to the shop. During the pandemic local people did help us by buying online and picking up, even if it was a couple records. The clubs are opening up now, but the clubs are digital. That’s not really a vinyl scene.”
COVID Concessions: Lollapalooza Loosened Health Security
Emails “obtained by the Tribune show organizers warned the city that security personnel would not be closely inspecting vaccination cards at entrance gates. Lollapalooza organizers also successfully requested a looser testing standard that was used at a much smaller local event,” report Tracy Swartz and Gregory Pratt. “That’s some of what emerged from 200 pages of emails Mayor Lightfoot’s administration released in response to public records requests about its discussions with Lollapalooza organizers and the decision to soften the testing standard for admission to the festival, which drew nearly 400,000 attendees to Grant Park.” Dr. “Arwady told the Tribune in late September the number of positive cases tied to Lollapalooza, meanwhile, had risen above 300. Questions have been raised about the reliability of the city’s contact tracing process.”
