Avondale, world’s sixteenth-coolest neighborhood, 2015/Photo: Ray Pride
ART
Lincoln Vandalized In Lincoln Park
An anonymous group claimed credit for pouring paint on the 1887 “Standing Lincoln” statue in Lincoln Park that was sculpted by Augustus Saint-Gaudens. The group says the gesture was intended to remind people of the public execution of thirty-eight Dakota men in the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862, reports the Sun-Times. “Red paint was poured over the statue and ‘Dethrone the Colonizers,’ ‘Land Back!’ and ‘Avenge the Dakota 38’ was spray-painted at its base.”
DESIGN
Time Out: World’s Sixteenth-Coolest Neighborhood Is… Avondale
The international website likes Avondale; it’s sixteenth in an international rundown voted on by 20,000 respondents out of fifty-one ‘hoods. (Number one is Colonia Americana, in Guadalajara.) “Take a walk down Milwaukee Avenue and you’ll discover everything from trendy new bars and airy plant stores to decades-old sausage shops catering to the neighbourhood’s Polish-speaking population… Grab pastries and breakfast sandwiches at Loaf Lounge (its chocolate cake was made famous by streaming show ‘The Bear’) before admiring Polish cathedral-style architecture at the Basilica of St. Hyacinth and stocking up on Korean staples at Joong Boo Market… Cap off your night with a round of white Russian slushies while you play the vintage lanes at Avondale Bowl.”
Dearborn Denim Building New Factory
“Dearborn Denim started in 2016 as a direct to consumer apparel manufacturer,” the manufacturer advises in a release. “Three-thousand-square-feet in an abandoned industrial laundry, some old sewing machines and an idea. The idea was that localized manufacturing is capable of producing quality products at competitive prices. We have proven this is possible… We built a fully modernized apparel manufacturing facility with expert staff.” Expansion is in the offing: “The new space will be a much-needed improvement to our facilities as well as an additional 16,000 feet of space and a parking lot. The additional space allows us to expand new branches of Dearborn Denim into contract manufacturing services and wholesale. We are excited to break ground on our renovations and continue to invest in the future of USA apparel manufacturing.” More here.
O’Hare, Midway Among Airport Websites Hit By Pro-Russia Hackers
“A widespread attack coordinated by pro-Russia hackers knocked the websites of Chicago’s O’Hare and Midway airports offline early Monday,” reports the Sun-Times. “No flights or other airport operations were affected.”
Bally’s Expected To Buy Thirty-Acres Freedom Center This Week
“With time running out on its option to buy the Freedom Center printing plant, Bally’s is expected to close the deal ‘this week,'” reports the Trib, bringing “the thirty-acre site in River West another step closer to housing the Chicago casino. The Rhode Island-based casino company has an option to buy the site from Dallas-based Nexstar Media Group, the nation’s largest TV station owner, which acquired it in 2019 as part of its $4.1 billion purchase of Tribune Media—the former broadcast parent of Tribune Publishing.”
Buy Jeff Garlin’s Gold Coast Condo
Jeff Garlin’s Gold Coast condo is on the market for $825,000, reports Crain’s.
DINING & DRINKING
Chicago Late Night Shrinks
“Customers are back, but bars and restaurants are closing earlier as demand dwindles,” reports the Tribune. “Two-and-a-half years into a pandemic that’s turning endemic, bars and restaurants such as The Long Room are finding they need to do healthy business earlier in the day for a simple reason: Late-night eating and drinking just isn’t what it was. And it may never be again.” The Long Room’s owner “sees opportunity in building daytime and early evening business with coffee service, food and happy hour cocktails. ‘Happy hour and early evenings are much more robust than pre-pandemic… People are going out earlier and getting home earlier—myself included.'”
La Criolla Turns Sixty-Five
La Criolla, Chicago’s all-natural spice brand, celebrates its sixty-fifth anniversary with a Hispanic Ministers breakfast on Wednesday, October 12, hosted by Cook County Clerk Iris Y. Martinez. October 12 is also known as Dia De La Raza Day, “one of the most authentic indigenous days celebrated throughout Latin America during Hispanic Heritage month.” La Criolla will be presented with special recognition from Governor Pritzker, Mayor Lightfoot, Clerk of the Circuit Court Martinez and Illinois State Senator Cristina Pacione Zayas. La Criolla’s Adobo Creole seasoning “has been named one of the best creole all-natural seasonings in the country with no byproduct or fillers. La Criolla spices continue to be hand-blended and mixed at their new facility in Alsip. La Criolla, Inc .has maintained its famous tagline since its inception, ‘El Orgullo de tu Cocina–The Pride of Your Kitchen.’” More on La Criolla here.
FILM & TELEVISION
Davenport, Iowa Getting Deluxe Moviehouse
Beck and Woods, the screenwriters of “A Quiet Place,” are behind a new movie theater in Davenport, reports ourquadcities.com. “Filmmakers Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, who are opening a new downtown Davenport movie theater—The Last Picture House—at 2nd and Iowa streets, next to Half Nelson restaurant and across Iowa Street from Bechtel Park.” Destination Iowa has granted $600,000 toward the nearly $4 million project, a two-screen theater with a rooftop bar to open next summer. “We always dreamed of building a movie theater, a place where a community comes together for a shared experience. Over the years, we had the opportunity to visit cinemas in cities like Los Angeles or London, and Dublin, and we experienced the unique amenities, film programming, special events, and guests that they would bring in to really foster a first-class cinematic environment,” the writers relay. “And we thought, why can’t this exist in the Quad Cities? Why not bring a first-rate cinema to the area that isn’t just a place where you buy popcorn, see a movie, then leave, but instead you’re there to spend an entire night seeing a movie with the best sound and visual presentation possible, then listen to a celebrity guest do a Q&A, and follow that up by getting a cocktail in the social lounge or on the rooftop, and see a gallery of Hollywood movie props and artwork first-hand, all within the walls of a one-of-a-kind venue that you’d expect to see in a major city.”
LIT
Oak Park Library Names Executive Director
Joslyn Bowling Dixon is the new executive director of the Oak Park Public Library, reports Wednesday Journal. Dixon, who has a master’s in library and information sciences, was approved by unanimous vote of the library board. “She has a twenty-year career in libraries, a career which began in Oak Park. Most recently she has been the director of the Newark, New Jersey public library. She has been active in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion-related work within national library associations.”
Chicago Organizer And Former Councilmember Helen Shiller Talks Memoir
Helen Shiller talks about her book, “Daring To Struggle,” to South Side Weekly. The book, she says, is “a political memoir in the sense that it is stories. I do talk about my history so that there’s some understanding where I’m coming from, and the focus is really Uptown and our citywide coalitions through the seventies, and then the development of the movement and what was going on in the city and the country leading up to Harold Washington’s election (in 1983), his first term, and then basically my time as alderman (1987-2011). I [ended the book] when I leave the City Council. And it’s clearly my slice, from the perspective of the things I was involved in as part of initially coming to Chicago to become part of the Intercommunal Survival Committee, which was basically a cadre of white people working under the direction of the Black Panther Party to organize white people to join the Black-led struggle for justice and liberation.”
MUSIC
Live Music And Touring Are Troubled
Signs are everywhere, including a post by Animal Collective about why it’s unaffordable for the group to tour Europe and the United Kingdom next month. “We love playing music for you and truly wish we could be there… We were forced to cancel shows and lost large amounts of the income that sustains us and our families. The one constant has been that we have had an incredible time playing music in front of our fans at every show… Preparing for this tour we were looking at an economic reality that simply does not work and is not sustainable. From inflation, to currency devaluation, to bloated shipping and transportation costs, and much much more, we simply could not make a budget for this tour that did not lose money even if everything went as well as it could… We truly want nothing more than to make it out there again.” New York magazine looks at the big picture: “Anyone within spitting distance of live music over the past two years—from road-warrior musicians to anxious ticketholders and every behind-the-scenes toiler in between—has been plenty aware of the precariousness surrounding tour schedules in general. All it takes is a positive rapid test on an artist’s team, or travel-prohibitive supply-chain issues, or a mental-health crisis, or a straight-up lack of funding to derail an entire run of shows.” Santigold pulled “the plug on the entirety of her North American tour—citing unsustainable costs due to inflation, as well as the increasingly untenable situation of post-COVID touring life in general.” … Where are the solutions when it comes to fixing what is obviously a functionally and spiritually broken industry?”
Riccardo Muti Will Lead CSO On 2023 North American Tour
Riccardo Muti and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra embark on a North American tour—the Orchestra’s sixty-third international tour—and additional U.S. appearances in 2023 as part of the current season. Now in their thirteenth season of artistic collaboration, Muti and the CSO first toured in the U.S. in 2011, and the 2023 touring activities represent their first tour since February 2020. The seven-city, eight-concert North American tour begins with the Orchestra’s first appearance in Mesa, Arizona, on January 22, and continues with stops in three California cities: Costa Mesa. Santa Barbara and Stanford. Following the California concerts is the Orchestra’s first appearance in Stillwater, Oklahoma, and a return to the University of Iowa. The North American tour culminates at Koerner Hall, in Toronto, Ontario, marking the CSO’s first appearances in Canada since 1976. The North American tour includes two Beethoven symphonies (Nos. 7 & 8) performed during Muti’s survey of the complete cycle of Beethoven symphonies in recent seasons, as well as Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 5, Beethoven’s “Coriolan Overture,” Liadov’s “The Enchanted Lake” and Ravel’s orchestration of Mussorgsky’s “Pictures from an Exhibition.” More here.
Teen Vogue Calls On Fashion Press To Cover Kanye West Critically
Kanye West “opened the Balenciaga show at Paris Fashion Week, generating… headlines and social media posts about his runway debut,” writes editor-in-chief Versha Sharma at Teen Vogue. “Not one of these mentions seemed to wonder at the irony of creative director Demna saying the show was about ‘digging for the truth’ and being ‘down to earth’ despite it having been opened by a conspiracy theorist who wants very, very badly to make it in luxury fashion… There is no purpose for this kind of conduct, and it only gets enabled by free, fawning media attention. So, again, I come with a plea to fashion editors, journalists, headline writers, social media managers, and editors-in-chief: Please. Stop. Covering. Kanye. Uncritically.“ At the Washington Post, Will Oremus and Cristiano Lima write that West’s antisemitic tweets could be a harsh preview of the future of social media, especially when (and if) Elon Musk takes control of Twitter. “Between a growing field of state laws that seek to restrict content moderation and Musk’s determination to loosen Twitter’s policies, posts such as Ye’s could soon become more prevalent online… The uncertainty around whether a vague-but-threatening antisemitic post would be protected under the Texas law could prompt platforms to play it safe and leave it up, fearing legal repercussions if they took it down. Legal experts have warned that the dynamic could have a chilling effect on companies’ moderation efforts, and lead to a proliferation of hate speech.”
STAGE
Deeply Rooted Salutes Quincy Jones
The Auditorium Theatre will present Deeply Rooted Dance Theater—the Chicago-based African American contemporary dance company—in a one-night-only performance Saturday, November 5, featuring the world premiere of “Q After Dark,” a celebration of the music of Chicago’s Quincy Jones. The Deeply Rooted dancers perform choreography by the company’s artistic team—artistic director Nicole Clarke-Springer, associate artistic director Gary Abbott, creative-executive director Kevin Iega Jeff and Joshua L. Ishmon—with live music by an ensemble of musicians led by Sam Thousand. And: in a company premiere by choreographer Ulysses Dove, Deeply Rooted performs “Vespers,” a dramatic work inspired by Dove’s memories of his grandmother’s place of worship. “Vespers” showcases the athleticism and grace of six female dancers by Mikel Rouse’s electronic score. (The National Endowment for the Arts approved a grant of $20,000 to support the commission of Deeply Rooted’s performance of “Vespers.”) Completing the program are revivals of two works choreographed by co-founder and creative-executive director Kevin Iega Jeff: “Aisatnaf,” in which a woodland creature frolics to “Ballet Fantasy for Strings and Harp” by Lee Holdridge, and “Junto,” a spirited celebration of unity set to music by Pat Metheny. Tickets here.
ARTS & CULTURE & ETC.
Chicago Thanksgiving Parade Returns November 24
The Chicago Thanksgiving Parade returns on Thursday, November 24, 8am-11am, traveling up State Street from Ida B. Wells Drive to Randolph. This free family tradition includes marching bands, floats, stage performances, equestrian units, cultural performance troupes and inflatables, led by celebrity hosts and a special visitor from the North Pole. CW26 will broadcast the entire parade, which will be co-hosted by actors Jen Lilley and Jesse Hutch. The Chicago Thanksgiving Parade also offers VIP seating for the Parade for $60 here.
Hollywood Casino To Exit Downtown Aurora
Hollywood Casino Aurora intends to leave downtown and move near the Interstate 88 interchange, reports the Aurora Beacon-News. The owners of the casino made the announcement on its website, saying that “it would build a casino and hotel with about 900 slot machines, fifty live table games, a Barstool Sportsbook and about 200 hotel rooms.”
Chicago Tribune Offers Final Endorsements
Owner Alden Global Capital allowed the Trib to complete its endorsements for the November election; the results are here.
Crain’s Urges Biden To Move On Cannabis Legalization
“Pardoning thousands of people for marijuana-related offenses was the right move,” writes Crain’s editorial board. “The announcement of his executive order gave a boost to cannabis-industry entrepreneurs in Chicago, which, as home to major players such as Cresco Labs, Green Thumb Industries and Verano Holdings, has rapidly become the epicenter of the nascent medical and recreational marijuana sector.”
Fracas At Green Thumb
“Board members weren’t the only ones who resigned last week from marijuana company Green Thumb Industries,” reports Crain’s. “The cannabis company’s top lawyer also resigned as three board members left. ‘It’s not a good sign,’ says a corporate governance expert.”
City Colleges Staff Set To Strike
City Colleges staff have a date set to strike, reports Chicago Business. “The union is has a list of demands including higher annual pay raises and smaller classroom sizes that it says must be met before the deadline.” Here’s background from the Sun-Times: “An overwhelming ninety-two-percent of 1,208 voting members approved a strike to pressure City Colleges leadership into meeting the union’s contract demands,” the union announced last week.
Gig Labor Struck Blow By Biden Rule
The Biden administration has released a long-anticipated rule making it more likely for millions of workers to be classified as employees, writes New York Times labor reporter Noam Scheiber. The proposal “would make it more likely for millions of janitors, home-care and construction workers and gig drivers to be classified as employees rather than independent contractors. Companies are required to provide certain benefits and protections to employees but not to contractors, such as paying a minimum wage, overtime, a portion of a worker’s Social Security taxes and contributions to unemployment insurance.”
Child Labor Is Back
The National Federation of Independent Business has been actively lobbying to roll back child labor laws in three states, reports The American Prospect. “The bills—in Wisconsin, Ohio and New Jersey—have all been aimed at expanding the number of hours teenagers are allowed to work, despite evidence that too many hours can harm children… While NFIB is not the only entity pushing for these bills, its involvement is eye-catching, given the trade association’s reputation. NFIB, whose sticker you can see displayed in… small-business establishments, uses its mom-and-pop image to advocate for policies that benefit corporate America. ‘They have a long history of manipulating data to push a far-right, anti-regulatory agenda,'” historian and author Rick Perlstein says.
