Cover Design: Dan Streeting featuring a partial list of novels retyped by Tim Youd
I went to the music club Biddy Mulligan’s only once or twice back in its heyday, in large part because of the distance to the Far North Side location from my South Loop home. Dave Hoekstra’s feature in this issue makes me wish I’d spent a lot more time there, even as I am fortunate now to live vicariously through Dave’s words. At the same time I was neglecting Biddy’s back in the early nineties, I was reading Dave’s writing on a regular basis in the Chicago Sun-Times. His quirky sensibility and prowess with the language made him the one daily newspaper writer who was in tune with the world that those of us in the alternative press lived in.
I also read Mary Wisniewski’s writing in the Chicago Tribune for years. She profiles artist Tim Youd in this issue, who retypes classic novels in situ. What I find especially fascinating is where he says he’s now writing his own novel because he’s learned how to do it through this project. It’s something often told to young writers: if you want to master the craft, find a favorite work and retype it. You’ll learn more about how to put together a sentence than any college course can teach you. Daily journalism’s loss, of Mary and Dave, is Newcity’s gain, and we’re ecstatic to bring you their work.
We have our fourth movie opening this month, “Relative,” and it’s also our fourth to play the Music Box Theatre. And it’s our first to play at the Gene Siskel Film Center, which will offer easier access to downtown, South and West Side audiences. You can find out more about the film at Relativemovie.com.
Michael Glover Smith, its writer and director, somehow got this film made on a shoestring budget in the heart of the pandemic. Shot mostly at a glorious house in Rogers Park, but with some great scenes set around the area, especially at the Hopleaf, this movie exemplifies so much about what we all love about Chicago. Great acting, a compelling, heartfelt and funny story, and an ensemble of filmmakers that just loved making art together. And then to bring it home at the city’s two premiere art-house theaters, well, swoon. See you there?
BRIAN HIEGGELKE
Look for Newcity’s June 2022 print edition at over 300 Chicago-area locations this week or subscribe to the print edition at Newcityshop.com.
IN THIS ISSUE
Frida’s World An exploration of the iconic artist through photography
The Retypist Tim Youd performs classic novels as performance art
Crude A life lived in oil’s shadow in comics
From Biddy’s to Billions Lessons learned owning a once-iconic Chicago music club
Poetry THE RADIOLOGIST SPEAKS AND DOESN’T A new poem from S.L. Wisenberg
And so much more…
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