Lion under pressure/Photo: CSOS Inc. and Art Institute Of Chicago
ART
Lions Return To Art Institute
Early this morning, the Art Institute’s lions were reinstalled on the front steps of the museum’s Michigan Avenue entrance “after conservation treatment from our longtime conservation partners at CSOS. After a deep cleaning and the application of a fresh coating of wax, the lions are cleaner and greener than ever. Both lions were moved back to their plinths by a crane from a flatbed truck.” The Chicago Lions Twitter account posts bright green proof here.
DESIGN
Chicago Notches A Single Building Among World’s Twenty-Five Tallest
The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat has listed what it considers the world’s tallest buildings, reports ArchDaily. Chicago’s contender? The Willis Tower.
Emmett Till’s Home Gets Preservation Grant
The African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund has announced that Emmett Till’s mother’s house on Chicago’s South Side will receive a share of $3 million in grants being distributed to thirty-three sites and organizations that are important pieces of African American history, reports the Sun-Times. “’This house is a sacred treasure from our perspective and our goal is to restore it and reinvent it as an international heritage pilgrimage destination,’ said Naomi Davis, executive director of Blacks in Green, a local nonprofit group that bought the house in 2020. She said the plan is to time the 2025 opening with that of the Obama Presidential Library a few miles away.”
Adopt-A-Landmark Funds Approved For Stained Glass At K.A.M. Isaiah Israel Temple
“The Commission on Chicago Landmarks has approved Adopt-A-Landmark funds for the K.A.M. Isaiah Temple in Kenwood. Located at 1100 East Hyde Park, the temple is undergoing extensive repairs including restoration of the stained-glass windows,” reports Urbanize Chicago.
Mayor Of Galesburg Talks Clean Energy Grid
“Solar and wind are hands-down the lowest-cost power sources. The more power they provide, the cheaper our energy costs. A massive reservoir of these projects is waiting right now for authorization to connect to the regional power grid run by the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, so they can proceed with construction,” writes Galesburg mayor Peter Schwartzman in an opinion piece at the Galesburg Register-Mail. “How many projects? We’re talking 120 gigawatts of solar, wind and battery storage across MISO’s fifteen-state region, including fifteen gigawatts right here in Illinois. Regionwide, this is enough to power every household in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa and Missouri. It would create a half million jobs, more than 60,000 just in Illinois.”
Protégé Pitched As “MasterClass-Meets-LinkedIn”
“Platforms like Cameo have broken the barriers between celebrities and their fans for personalized interactions,” local startup Protégé relays. “The next development in fan-talent engagement could be asking celebrities for a job. The is the mission of Protégé–a ‘masterclass-meets-LinkedIn’ for the stars–aiming to connect struggling artists, musicians, actors and even businesspeople, to luminaries in their fields. Stars like DJ Khaled, Scooter Braun and Bebe Rexha have opened campaigns to find their protégé via sixty-second audition videos. Talented people are using it to shoot their shot at stardom.”
DINING & DRINKING
Uber Eats Couriers Downplayed By Algorithm For Drivers
Three-year Uber Eats courier J. Cooper noticed in Chicago “that the number of deliveries being assigned to him by Uber Eats had dwindled, especially during peak hours like the lunch and dinner rushes. After speaking with fellow food delivery workers, who reported similar lags, but only if the delivery method was cycling or walking, Cooper began to wonder if a change to the app’s algorithm was behind the switch,” reports Salon from Chicago. “The change in algorithm has killed bikers’ and walkers’ profits,” Cooper told the website. “I noticed long ago that Uber was giving preference to cars … Can you imagine being on a bike and a car being given shorter-distance orders than you are?” A spokesperson told Salon that “Uber Eats had sent couriers who deliver on foot a communication detailing a change intended to prioritize the worker with the most ‘efficient delivery time’ in the interest of reliable service.”
Oprah’s Former Personal Chef Replaces Navy Pier Bubba Gump
Art Smith’s Reunion is open on Navy Pier, taking the space held for twenty-four years by Bubba Gump, reports Eater Chicago. “I can make more than fried chicken,” Smith says. “It’s good fried chicken, it’s just fried chicken with a pedigree. It’s been made for everybody you think of, even the Dalai Lama.” … “Reunion’s menu deemphasizes red meat in favor of more vegetarian and vegan options… Smith calls Navy Pier the ‘Disney of the Midwest,’ and points out that Walt Disney was born in Chicago. Smith interned at Disney World when he was younger and takes pride that he’s the only former Disney cast member to return to the resort and open their own restaurant. ‘I always thought about how I could bring a little bit of that magic to Navy Pier.'”
Koval Adds Braille And ASL Menus
“We want to figure out ways for people to have a good time, and part of that is making sure that good time is accessible,” Koval distillery co-founder Sonat Birnecker Hart tells Block Club Chicago. “The first tour of the distillery featuring American Sign Language interpretation launched this month with help from the Chicago Hearing Society… The tasting room menu also now has a Braille option for people who are visually impaired.”
Russian Missiles Target Ukraine Crops Like Wheat
“’The fields are burning,’ the farmer yelled in a panic. He had been just days away from starting the harvest, but the Russian shelling came first—despite his modest farm’s distance from Ukraine’s southern front. In minutes, the flames threatened what was left of this year’s grain crop,” reports the Washington Post. “Fires are the latest scourge that Viktor and other farmers face in the Mykolaiv region. With the planting season delayed by fighting to retake the area from occupying Russian forces, they must now choose between harvesting near an active front line or abandoning their crop… The havoc unleashed by the Russian invasion has prevented much of Ukraine’s grain from reaching global markets this year, slashing the output of one of the world’s largest producers and affecting food security worldwide. The country accounted for ten percent of global wheat exports in 2021.”
Bonhomme Opens Casa Beatnik In Galicia
Michelin-starred Bonhomme Group has opened its first boutique hotel, Casa Beatnik, in Galicia, Spain. “Nestled in the Rías Baixas wine region, Casa Beatnik offers guests seven acres of bespoke bohemian luxury, wellness retreats and inspired hospitality. The hotel boasts thirteen individually styled suites, six luxury yurts, two distinct restaurants, craft cocktail bars, a working winery and a vineyard featuring one of the world’s oldest vines. Other amenities include Iglusaunas from Estonia, a saltwater pool and daybeds, and a wellness and spa team of certified instructors and therapists.” The culinary high point is the six-table Tribu, opening today, “surrounded by the lush gardens and vineyard… a bold transformation of an eighteenth-century Galician pazo. Tribu offers guests a setting to experience the best that Galicia has to offer, from Rubia Gallega beef and spectacular seafood to rare vegetables, wild game and wine. Tribu is Bonhomme Group and executive chef Marcos Campos’ newest restaurant concept after Porto, a Michelin-starred love letter to the Atlantic coast of Spain and Portugal. Chef Marcos has come to Galicia, to the home of the product served by Porto. Here, he can explore and experiment with Galician ingredients that he loves and other products that he has not been able to incorporate in Chicago due to import controls. Dishes share a spirit of tradition and modernity, with inventive compositions created by incorporating ancestral preservation techniques (smoking, curing, pickling, dry-aging) and cooking exclusively over charcoal and wood.” More here.
FILM & TELEVISION
Apple TV Plus Will Shoot “Dark Matter” In Chicago
Science-fiction limited series “Dark Matter,” from Apple TV Plus and Sony Pictures Television, will shoot its nine episodes in Chicago, reports Screen magazine. The “adaptation of Blake Crouch’s novel ‘Dark Matter’ will begin filming in Chicago on October 17 and continue through March of 2023… Production offices at Cinespace Film Studios are now open. ‘Dark Matter’ is a massive coup for the booming Chicago and Illinois television production industry.”
Netflix Rolling Out Password Crackdown
Netflix is adding charges for password sharing. “We’ve been carefully exploring different ways for people who want to share their account to pay [more]. In March 2022, we launched an ‘add extra member’ feature in Chile, Costa Rica and Peru. From next month, we will launch an alternative ‘add a home’ feature in Argentina, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras,” Netflix posts. “We will not make changes in other countries until we better understand what’s easiest for our members.” The changes being tested include multiple devices in a single home; a fee for additional homes, around $3; and usage on a tablet, laptop or mobile device while traveling.
LIT
Chicago Women In Publishing Dissolves
“Since 1972, Chicago Women in Publishing has provided networking, mentoring, advocacy, job opportunities, professional education, and innumerable long-lasting friendships to Chicago-area publishing professionals. The creative and dedicated women who formed the organization could not have foreseen the profound technologic, cultural, and business changes that have occurred over the past fifty years,” the group relays in a release. “After careful examination of options, [the board has] concluded that it is time to dissolve our distinguished and treasured organization…The reasons for this action are many and complex. Key among them are the virtual absence of volunteers, board nominees, and other offers of participation or assistance; lack of crucial infrastructure to maintain standard association membership databases and communications resources; and the effects of the pandemic on the dynamic in-person networking and interaction that CWIP has thrived on for fifty years.”
MEDIA
Journalist And Activist Hank DeZutter Was Eighty
A journalist who championed neighborhood news and profiled Barack Obama in 1995, writes Block Club Chicago, Hank DeZutter co-founded the Chicago Journalism Review and the Community Media Workshop, which is now known as Public Narrative. DeZutter was “a regular contributor to the weekly Chicago Reader, where he specialized in what one of his editors, Michael Miner, remembers as ‘neighborhood matters that nobody else would write about.’ One such [story], about a Bucktown block where riled-up residents shut down a drug house, touched off a citywide movement.Big media, DeZutter once argued, too often regarded neighborhoods as ‘places to find ethnic restaurants or occasional festivals.'”
STAGE
Casting Announced For Steppenwolf Opener
Casting has been announced for Steppenwolf Theatre’s forty-seventh season opening attraction, the Chicago premiere of “The Most Spectacularly Lamentable Trial of Miz Martha Washington.” Directed by Whitney White, this “fever dream about the dying ‘Mother of America'” features ensemble member Celeste M. Cooper with Sydney Charles, Carl Clemons-Hopkins, Nikki Crawford, Cindy Gold, Victor Musoni and Donovan Session. Single tickets go on sale July 27 here.
Sarah Siddons Society Sets Siddons At Seventy Soirée
The Sarah Siddons Society will celebrate its seventieth anniversary with the “Siddons at Seventy Soirée,” featuring special performances by past award honorees Kate Baldwin and Heidi Kettenring. Chuck Larkin will provide musical direction. The evening begins with a reception at 6pm followed by performances in Davenport’s intimate cabaret. Monday, July 25, Davenport’s, 1383 North Milwaukee. Tickets are here.
Ingrid Michaelson Debuts Song From “The Notebook”
Chicago Shakespeare Theater presents an in-studio video of the song “If This Is Love” from the world premiere of “The Notebook,” performed by singer-songwriter Ingrid Michaelson. The new musical, based on Nicholas Sparks’ bestselling novel that inspired Nick Cassavetes’ movie, begins performances at Chicago Shakespeare Theater on September 6.
Sunday In The Park With Lyric At Pritzker Pavilion
“Sunday in the Park with Lyric,” a free concert at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park, is scheduled for Sunday, August 21. “Bask in the music as artists from The Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center perform a variety of favorites from the 2022-23 season accompanied by members of the Lyric Opera Orchestra, and conducted by Enrique Mazzola, Lyric’s music director,” the Lyric relays in a release. More here.
ARTS & CULTURE & ETC.
Grant Park Area Will Be NASCAR’s First Street Race Course In 2023
The City of Chicago “will transform the Grant Park environs into the first-ever NASCAR street race” on Sunday, July 2, reports the Trib. “The televised Cup Series event will feature a twelve-turn, 2.2 mile-course, with top NASCAR drivers weaving through the park on closed-off streets lined with temporary fences, grandstands and what promoters hope will be thousands of fans.” “This is actually going to be our first race on a street course in our seventy-five-year history,” the paper quotes Ben Kennedy, NASCAR senior vice president of racing development and strategy. “I think it’s going to be a very unique course.”
New York Times Surveys Chicago Reaction To Current Viral Surge
The Times reports on responses around the nation to the latest variant here, reporting from Chicago. “COVID-19 is surging around the United States again in what experts consider the most transmissible variant of the pandemic yet. But something is different this time: The public health authorities are holding back. In Chicago, where the [Cook County] COVID warning level was raised to ‘high’ last week, the city’s top doctor said there was no reason for residents to let the virus control their lives. The state health director in Louisiana likened a new rise in Covid cases there to a downpour—’a surge within a surge’—but characterized the situation as concerning but not alarming.” From the Times’ COVID newsletter: “Dr. Allison Arwady, the health department commissioner, said, ‘I feel strongly that you can’t just kind of cry wolf all the time.'”
Pritzker Positive Days After Florida Trip
“Governor J.B. Pritzker has tested positive for the coronavirus for the the first time after trips to the White House, Maine and Florida last week,” reports the Trib. “I’ve tested positive for COVID-19 and am experiencing mild symptoms, but thanks to anti-viral medications like Paxlovid and vaccines I’ll be on the mend much quicker,” the governor tweets.
Monkeypox Spread In Chicago
Chicago monkeypox cases were reported on Monday at 173, reports the Trib. “Health officials warn there is nothing to stop the virus from spreading to the entire population.” “I don’t see there being a concerted effort from the city or the government in terms of getting that word out there,” Dr. Daniel Berger told the paper.
E(art)H Chicago Selects Eleven Climate And Environmental Justice Public Art Projects
Eleven art projects will share $547,310 as part of E(art)H Chicago (pronounced Earth Art Chicago), aiming for June 2023 launch. A majority of the funds are supporting art in either communities facing environmental injustices or those with limited public art. The Illinois Science and Energy Innovation Foundation (ISEIF), the originator and lead funder of the project, set out to stimulate community engagement on climate change and environmental justice with public art. Other funders include Builders Initiative, The Joyce Foundation, the Chicago Frontline Funding Initiative and the Regeneration Fund. Using Chicago as their canvas, the selected artists are tasked with raising awareness of key environmental issues in communities across the city to nurture urgency and inspire action in neighborhoods. “We have a powerful lineup of projects,” said Uzma Noormohamed, program director, ISEIF. Among the projects, two are located on the Southeast Side, one in McKinley Park, one downtown, one in the Albany Park community at Horner Park, one in Austin, one in Pilsen, one in Little Village and one on the South Side at multiple urban farming locations. There will be a mosaic, a documentary, dance performances, sculptures, murals and land art. More here.
An Explainer On The Republican Drive To Abolish Public Schooling
“A growing number of Republican politicians and conservative leaders have called for demolishing the DOE in increasingly strident attacks on public education, including a 2021 bill supported by right-wing House Republicans like Lauren Boebert and Matt Gaetz,” writes Kathryn Joyce in an investigation at Salon.
University of Chicago Medicine Gets New Head
“A doctor and leader from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine has been named as the new head of University of Chicago Medicine,” reports the Trib. “Dr. Mark Anderson will become University of Chicago’s executive vice president for medical affairs, dean of the division of biological sciences and dean of the Pritzker School of Medicine on October 1.”
Son Of Royko Running In First Ward
“Last year, my girlfriend was carjacked. It was a traumatic experience. We decided to turn this difficult event into an opportunity to use our voices to improve the community,” writes Sam Royko in a news release. “Working together with our neighbors and community organizations, we created the Greater West Town Community Coalition. Today, we take the next step in our campaign as members of the community, for the community, and with the community to improve public safety, address violent crime, and build a better 1st Ward.” (Lawyer and community activist Royko is the son of the late Chicago newspaper columnist Mike Royko.)
