“Self and Cat (Possims),” Gertrude Abercrombie Collection at Hindman
ART
Hindman Auctions American Surrealist Gertrude Abercrombie
Hindman Auctions has announced the most significant selection of Gertrude Abercrombie paintings ever to come to market in “Casting Spells: The Gertrude Abercrombie Collection of Laura and Gary Maurer,” a single-owner auction on September 28. “As the preeminent collectors of Abercrombie works, Laura and Gary Maurer’s collection of twenty-one magical and mysterious career-spanning works by the enchanting artist will provide bidders a unique opportunity to compete on the broadest offering of works and some of the physically largest paintings by the ‘Queen of the Bohemians,'” writes Hindman. “A brilliant and willfully eccentric Chicago-based Surrealist artist with close ties to the jazz music scene, her works often evoke themes such as witchcraft and sorcery, and abound with owls, moonlit landscapes, walking paths, cats, and eggs. Susan Weininger, the leading Abercrombie scholar, says the selection from the late 1930s to the artist’s passing in the 1970s offers a wide range of works. “Significant examples of the artist’s most important themes are all represented, from self-portraits to mysterious landscapes through which the artist wanders, to meticulously painted and evocative still lifes and interiors, and more.” The Maurer Collection will travel to New York City for a preview in early September. In August, Hindman will announce additional details about the previews in New York and Chicago and collection highlights. Registration for the auction will be here.
DESIGN
Bally’s Drops $40 Million Down Payment In Bucket
“Bally’s, the casino operator chosen to bring a [$1.74 billion] gambling mecca to Chicago’s River West neighborhood, has made its initial $40 million payment to the city,” reports Gregory Pratt at the Trib, “money that is earmarked to help fill massive pension holes in future budgets. Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s office was eager to publicize the payment this week, negotiated as part of the casino bidding process, as she kicks her reelection campaign into high gear. But even if the casino brings in the $200 million a year in tax revenue its supporters project it to deliver later this decade, City Hall still faces major financial challenges down the road. ‘This is the first down payment from the casino on the future of Chicago’s pensions and a clear indication of the City’s commitment to its hardworking public safety professionals,’ Lightfoot’s office said in a statement.”
Amazon Fears It Will Run Through Entire Labor Pool
Amazon “could run out of people to hire in its U.S. warehouses by 2024, according to leaked Amazon internal research from mid-2021,” reports Recode. “If that happens, the online retailer’s service quality and growth plans could be at risk, and its e-commerce dominance along with it.”
First Unionized Apple Store Outside Of Baltimore
“Roughly two-thirds of employees at the Apple store in Towson, Maryland, voted to join the union,” reports the New York Times. “Apple employees at a Baltimore-area store have voted to unionize, making it the first of the company’s 270-plus stores in the United States to join a trend in labor organizing sweeping through retailers, restaurants and tech companies.” Announced by The NLRB, the result “provides a foothold for a budding movement among Apple retail employees who want a greater voice over wages and COVID-19 policies. Employees of more than two dozen Apple stores have expressed interest in unionizing in recent months.” (The Machinists Union has video of the reaction when the vote was announced.)
New Director Named At UIC’s School of Architecture
The School of Architecture at the University of Illinois Chicago has announced Argentinian architect, writer and lecturer Florencia Rodriguez as its new director, reports the Architect’s Newspaper. “Based in Brookline, Massachusetts, Rodriguez will begin her directorship in August, taking the place of Robert Somol, who served as director of the SoA since 2007.”
Buddy Bear Car Wash Turns Fifty
“Buddy Bear Car Wash has been more than just a car wash but an avenue of hope and opportunity and a true staple in the community” for half-a-century, reports WGN-TV. “Owner Phil Degeratto is celebrating the business’ success and newly renovated car wash at its original location. The renovation cost half a million dollars and updated the tunnel.”
Royal George Theatre Likely To Be Replaced With 133 Apartments
“A developer has offered plans for an eight-story residential building to replace the closed Royal George Theatre at 1641 North Halsted,” reports David Roeder at the Sun-Times. In an email to constituents, Ald. Brian Hopkins wrote that “‘Draper & Kramer wants to build 133 apartments on the site after the current building is demolished. The development would include ground-floor retail space and thirty-five parking spaces… The project would include twenty units qualifying as affordable… Hopkins also said the project will include housing for performers and staff from Steppenwolf Theatre across the street.”
Meet The Makers Of Manhole Covers In Neenah, Wisconsin
‘This is where they undergo their fiery birth, those overlooked essentials of urban life,” begins Neil Steinberg’s dithyramb to a common mass of metal. “Most of us seldom notice them, even though they can brave the extremes of weather for a hundred years while being run over by trucks without deteriorating, and we depend upon their steadfast operation to keep us from falling into open sewers. They are literally everywhere, around the world and at our feet, on every block, every street corner: the manhole covers, stormwater intake grates, bumpy rectangles where the sidewalk slopes to meet the street (formally known as detectable warning plates) and other cast-iron infrastructure that help keep Chicago from reverting back to the swamp it was at its beginning. ‘It’s stuff that’s always there, but no one thinks about it,’ said Joe Falle, director of research and development and application engineering at Neenah Foundry in Neenah, Wisconsin, 190 miles north of Chicago, between Oshkosh and Appleton. ‘It doesn’t do anything special but cover a hole.'”
Beverly, Morgan Park And Mount Greenwood Hire Private Security, Saying There Aren’t Enough Police
Private security guards will patrol commercial strips in Beverly, Morgan Park and Mount Greenwood, reports Block Club Chicago. “Three private security firms—Moore Security, Security Logistics Group and Law Dogs—will do routine unarmed patrols of commercial streets… ‘While I believe this program will make our neighborhoods safer, we must be clear that a private security guard is NOT a Chicago Police Officer,’ Ald. Matt O’Shea wrote to constituents. ‘The duty of private security officers will be to observe and report. When a private security officer encounters suspicious activity, he or she will immediately contact the Chicago Police Department and remain on scene until CPD responds.’”
Extended Stretch Of Milwaukee Avenue Gets Elongated Name Honoring Polish Chicago
Milwaukee Avenue, all the way from Sangamon Street to Greenwood Road in Niles, will now be known as the Milwaukee Avenue Polish Heritage Corridor, reports WGN-TV. “Lawmakers behind the change said it will allow local chambers of commerce to promote existing businesses in the area, while honoring the history of Milwaukee Avenue.”
A Visit To The Chicago Tool Library
“It’s a place where Chicagoans can borrow tools for all sorts of projects or jobs rather than having to buy them, said Tessa Vierk, co-founder and executive director” of the Chicago Tool Library in a report by the Sun-Times. “The nonprofit launched in August 2019 and in just under three years has grown from 160 to almost 3,000 members. People come from across the city, representing about ninety-eight percent of Chicago’s ZIP codes.” “We have school teachers planting gardens for their classes. We have several small businesses that use our tools to do renovations, or to do landscaping outside of their restaurant or their shop,” Vierk said. “We have people who use our tools to make money, to complete odd jobs.”
DINING & DRINKING
Times Profiles Happy Hour’s Return With Some Chicago Color
“Emptier offices have had a ripple effect on central business districts,” writes Jesus Jiménez at the New York Times. “With the unsteady return of workers to the office comes the shaky return of the happy hour… In Cook County, which includes Chicago, at least one in five residents has been infected with the coronavirus—more than 1.2 million cases—since the pandemic began. While some bars in the area have shortened their hours or closed on certain days, 2Twenty2 Tavern hasn’t done so… ‘We’re a family business, so if we went down, it’s our whole livelihood… We just grinded this out, and I think that kind of paid off.'”
Hyde Park West African Frozen Food Brand In Groceries Nationwide
“When Fred Spencer, a Chicago native and real estate investor, first approached his wife Perteet Spencer… with the idea of a frozen food brand featuring West African cuisine, she balked,” reports Eater Chicago. “A first-generation Liberian American, she was passionate about the low-and-slow stews her father spent hours concocting throughout her childhood, but as a brand manager at retail food giant General Mills, she questioned if there would be enough public interest.” Ten years later, “Ayo Foods (the name means ‘joy’ in Yoruba), a line of frozen and boxed West African dishes, is in grocery stores across the country, including Mariano’s, Fresh Market, and Heinen’s… West African cuisine—a broad category that encompasses seventeen countries—varies between regions and tribes, but is united by a particular cooking approach: low and slow, with layers of flavor that grow deeper and more complex as they simmer on the stove.”
Starbucks Claimed To Have Threatened To Remove Health Benefits For Trans Workers When Union Arrives
“Starbucks Corp. managers in several states have told baristas that its vaunted transgender-inclusive health-care benefits could go away if they unionize, employees alleged in interviews and a new complaint filed with the U.S, labor board,” reports Bloomberg. In a filing with the National Labor Relations Board, “the union Workers United accused the coffee chain of ‘threatening employees with loss of benefits’ including loss of gender-affirming health care for transgender employees” at [Neha] Cremin’s store. The union “alleges that Starbucks was trying to coerce employees not to exercise their organizing rights. ‘I think the company realizes that we as trans partners feel particularly vulnerable at this time,’ said Oklahoma Starbucks employee Neha Cremin. ‘I think that in some cases they are willing to take advantage of that.'” Earlier, Time reported that “Grindr LLC, the dating app that specializes in connections for the LGBTQ+ community, is rolling out new benefits to support employees seeking gender affirmation surgery, joining other companies that are endeavoring to help employees receive care that is sometimes difficult to access.”
Looking Behind The Starbucks Unionization Wave
“Although each unionized workplace is small, with a couple dozen employees apiece, the campaign is already, by my reckoning, one of the most successful unionizing efforts in recent U.S. history, with victories in twenty-eight states. Over one hundred additional Starbucks outlets have petitioned to unionize and are awaiting elections in the coming days and weeks, and several other votes are awaiting resolution. Starbucks has strongly opposed the campaign, and the union has lost about twenty-two elections so far,” writes John Logan at the Conversation. “The overwhelming success of the Starbucks labor organizing efforts is inspiring workers at other retailers, such as Amazon, REI, Apple and Trader Joe’s, which have all seen an increase in organizing activity or even their first unions.” Logan, a scholar who has for two decades studied corporate opposition to unions, fleshes out five key reasons: shift in sentiment; a role model; Starbucks’ progressive reputation; “fellowship of the baristas” and “grassroots mojo.” More here.
Grain Stranded In Ukraine, World’s Breadbasket; Complications Ensue
“Weeks of negotiations on safe corridors to get grain out of Ukraine’s Black Sea ports have made little progress, with urgency rising as the summer harvest season arrives,” reports Associated Press. In a preamble to a report on the growing global food crisis. “‘This needs to happen in the next couple of months (or) it’s going to be horrific,’ said Anna Nagurney, who studies crisis management… and is on the board of the Kyiv School of Economics. She says 400 million people worldwide rely on Ukrainian food supplies. The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization projects up to 181 million people in forty-one countries could face food crisis or worse levels of hunger this year… Typically, ninety-percent of wheat and other grain from Ukraine’s fields are shipped to world markets by sea but have been held up by Russian blockades of the Black Sea coast.”
MEDIA
Trib Bears Reporter John “Moon” Mullin Was Seventy-Four
“A graduate of Notre Dame High School in Niles and the University of Dayton, John Mullin was a well-known and respected figure in the Chicago sports media landscape for decades with his most prominent contributions coming on the Chicago Bears beat. He covered the team from the final stretch of the Mike Ditka era into the early stages of Matt Nagy’s tenure as coach,” reports the Trib.
MUSIC
Steve Albini’s Poker Wins Continue; Nearly $200,000 At World Series Of Poker
Steve “Albini beat a field of 773 players full of professionals and mixed game specialists,” reports the World Series of Poker. “Now his name is on the list of multiple World Series of Poker bracelet winners after taking down Event #32: $1,500 H.O.R.S.E for $196,089. Poker is just a hobby for Albini, albeit one he takes seriously. ‘Everything in my life comes in pieces, in parts. Poker is one part of my life,'” he said after his win. (Here’s a photo of a moment of Albini jubilation.) “‘So when I’m playing poker, I try to commit to it. I try to take it seriously. I try to make sure I devote the attention to it that it deserves as an occupation. But it’s only part of my year. I only play tournaments at the World Series of Poker. I play cash games informally in Chicago. It’s a part of my livelihood, but it’s not my profession.'” (The rundown of Albini’s 2018 win, $105,629, is here.)
STAGE
Artistic Director And Managing Director Exit Broken Nose
The board of directors of Broken Nose Theatre have announced that artistic director E.M. Davis and managing director Rose Hamill will step down on September 1. In a collective statement, the board of directors writes, “Over the last four years, E.M. and Rose have navigated Broken Nose through multiple transitions and challenges, from our first leadership transition to a global epidemic. We are grateful for both their leadership of the company during this time and their combined fifteen years of involvement with the company and wish them both well in their future endeavors. We look forward to partnering with the staff and ensemble in the coming months to collaboratively chart a future path. We recognize that this transition, coupled with our recent assessment and work around racial equity, access, diversity and inclusion, presents an opportunity to reimagine the structure of the organization. The board will establish a transition committee comprised of and co-led by members of the board, staff and ensemble. Over the next four to six months, this committee will take a collaborative and inclusive approach to not only identify and select the future artistic leadership of the company, but also envision and plan the future of BNT as one of Chicago’s premier economically accessible arts institutions.” More here.
Costuming “The Devil Wears Prada”
Deadline’s got a modest black-and-white preview of the costumes for the five-week run of the Chicago debut of the Broadway-bound “The Devil Wears Prada.”
ARTS & CULTURE
DuSable Museum Now The DuSable Black History Museum & Education Center
Juneteenth saw the rechristening of The DuSable Black History Museum & Education Center, reports Crain’s, “a punchier name that is more in keeping with contemporary terminology.” The change also includes new logos and rebranding.
Cyber-War Against Abortion Clinics Predicted: “Lock It Down Right Now”
“Abortion rights groups are using software that protects privacy and are honing other strategies to combat digital threats that they expect will worsen in a post-Roe world,” reports Politico. “Those efforts are gaining new urgency as a looming Supreme Court ruling threatens to open a new wave of security threats for people seeking abortions and their health care providers…’Our lives are online, our conversations are online, and there are people with an agenda who very much want to use it,’ said Erin Matson, co-founder and executive director of Reproaction, an advocacy group that educates people about self-managed abortions. ‘People have got to lock it down right now.'”
War Against Gay Kids Reminds Columnist Of Germany In 1930s
“We are now seeing a dangerous loop in which the most extreme voices on the far right—led, ironically, by so-called pastors—are making genocidal comments about our brothers and sisters in the LGBTQ community,” writes Will Bunch at the Philadelphia Inquirer. “In America’s statehouses, Republican lawmakers who claim to be worried about real-life problems like inflation are instead spending all of their time translating hate speech into proposed laws that would make societal pariahs out of transgender kids. In chat rooms and militia training sessions, the soldiers of extremism are on the brink of taking all of this to the next blood-drenched level… In a healthy democracy truly committed to liberty and human rights, our elected leaders would be condemning these shocking calls for violence…. It’s a matter of time before this gets someone killed.”
