Today In The Culture, March 28, 2023: Doc10 Lineup | RIP Bill Zehme | Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize

Anahuacalli Museum expansion, Mexico City, by Taller | Mauricio Rocha

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DESIGN

Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize Awarded

The 2023 Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize (MCHAP) has been awarded to the Anahuacalli Museum Remodel and Expansion project by Taller | Mauricio Rocha in Mexico City. Awarded by the Illinois Institute of Technology College of Architecture, the biennial prize recognizes a built work in the Americas that best embodies architectural excellence. The winning work “creates a sensitive, open dialogue with the existing Anahuacalli Museum, which was conceived by the artist Diego Rivera in the 1940s and realized over the following decades in collaboration with the architect Juan O’Gorman. The ecological and cultural significance of the surrounding volcanic landscape, in Mexico City’s Pedregal de San Ángel, were key considerations for the architects,” MCHAP relays. The work offers a “contemporary interpretation,” in the architects’ words, that addresses the heritage of the site and offers public space and opportunities to see Rivera’s collection of pre-Hispanic art. More here.

Illinois Cybersecurity “Held Together By Toothpicks And Bubble Gum”

“A 2021 state auditor general’s report warned the Illinois Secretary of State’s Office had problems in keeping its cyber security data safe,” reports Politico. “The lack of adequate cybersecurity programs and practices could result in unidentified risk and vulnerabilities, which could ultimately lead to the office’s confidential and personal information being susceptible to cyber-attacks and unauthorized disclosure… Newly elected Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias described the assessment as having uncovered ‘dangerous levels of neglect when it comes to failing to update a prehistoric IT infrastructure held together by toothpicks and bubble gum.'” The previous administration “neglected to make upgrades for the past quarter century and ignored alarm bells.”

Little Village Discount Mall Vendors Pack Up

“Little Village Discount Mall vendors on the south side of the plaza tore down their booth walls and packed up their merchandise, many hoping to sell as much as they could before being forced to vacate their shops Tuesday after a judge denied an emergency motion,” reports Block Club. “Half of the mall on 26th Street is set to close after the plaza’s owner, Novak Development, came to a leasing agreement with only one of the contractors, Pilsen Plaza Corporation. Novak failed to come to an agreement with the other contractor, PK Mall.”

Forty-Fifth Truck Stuck Under Long Grove Covered Bridge Since 2020

“A delivery truck driver was cited after his vehicle became wedged under the often-crashed-into covered bridge in Long Grove,” reports the Tribune, “The driver was cited for disobeying a traffic control device and driving a prohibited vehicle on the bridge. He told police he thought his van could clear the underside of the bridge.”

Rockford’s Camera Craft Closing After 108 Years

“Rockford resident and Camera Craft owner Tom Brady is shuttering his family’s 108-year-old camera store,” reports the Rockford Register Star. The business “has been a part of Rockford’s landscape seemingly forever operating in locations over the years on the city’s west side, downtown and east side.” Brady “said he tried keeping the business in the family, but his children pursued different career paths. As for turning the business over to his employees, Brady said, his older brother Patrick, who works in the office, declined. So too, he said, did another long-time employee who is retiring to Florida.”

FILM & TELEVISION

Doc10 Announces Eighth Edition Lineup

The 2023 lineup for the Doc10 Film Fest has been announced. Since its first run in 2016, twenty-three of the seventy films have been nominated for Oscars, and five of the 2022 attractions were shortlisted for the Academy Award. Three Doc10 films have won, including this year’s “Navalny,” “Summer of Soul” (2022) and “American Factory” (2019). CMP and Doc10 founders Steve Cohen and Paula Froehle say in a release, “We are so proud of the fact that Doc10 has become one of the primary stops for filmmakers on their way to receiving many awards, often including the Oscar.” The films: “Little Richard: I Am Everything”; “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie”; “The Disappearance Of Shere Hite”; “Confessions of A Good Samaritan”; “King Coal”; “Going To Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project”; “A Still Small Voice”; “Subject” and “Going Varsity In Mariachi” and “Under The Sky Of Damascus,” both of which were supported by CMP. Synopses and more here.

Disney Firing 7,000

The Disney Company CEO Bob Iger hopes to find $5.5 billion in savings to address the monumental losses from its streaming debacle, with 7,000 layoffs through summer, reports CNN.

MEDIA

Master Of The Celebrity Profile Bill Zehme Was Sixty-Four

“A writer for Esquire, Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, Playboy and other top-shelf magazines back when magazines really mattered, Bill Zehme pierced the shiny veneer of celebrity to capture the flesh-and-blood person within, writing best-selling books on Jay Leno, Andy Kaufman and his idol, Sinatra,” writes Neil Steinberg at the Sun-Times. “’I’m really not interested in most people,” he confessed to Ted Allen in Chicago magazine in 1996. ‘The celebrity profile is the bastard stepchild of journalism, and I’m embarrassed sometimes to be associated with it.'” Eric Zorn: “All Chicago writers stood in awe of Bill Zehme.”

Zehme was in the 2008 Lit 50 and cover-storied by Josh Karp by Newcity in 2002 after he had finished a monumental interview with Johnny Carson. “Zehme hates writing. Hates every damn aspect of the process except for finishing. He hates writing, but he loves having written, as the saying goes. Then he’s happy. When his stories are published, he ‘carries them around like a baby,’ says art-dealer Carrie Secrist, Zehme’s girlfriend of six years, ‘to the bathroom, to restaurants, to bars—everywhere.’ It’s when he’s happiest. But now, Zehme’s past happy. Past the giddy post-Johnny, carry-the-magazine-everywhere thing. It took him until mid-September to remove the Carson material from his desk. Johnny now sits in boxes under Zehme’s desk, waiting to be put in storage. He’s not miserable. That’s not his thing. He’s just at a loss. So, here sits Bill Zehme. Forty-four years old, the nation’s foremost profiler of celebrities and author of several books. Chicago resident and Roscoe Village loft dweller. Lost. Where does he go?” “One of the all-time great magazine writers and the master of the celebrity profile. Also a good friend,” Karp posted on Facebook. “I will always recall his telling me that at one point he was commuting back and forth from Chicago to L.A. so much that he was ‘actually living somewhere over Denver.’ I wish I had something profound to say. But mostly this just sucks.”

For Chicago magazine, Zehme wrote about how Stage 4 cancer had changed his life: “My first reaction to the diagnosis was not utter panic. What popped into my head was literally this: Well, at least it’s fashionable; all the best people get cancer. Mine was colorectal—stage 4 because of a couple of spots spread onto the liver. Not one word of which remotely registered in my brain at the time. All I knew was I’d joined a very large and distinguished club. And that’s truly and weirdly what’s empowered me every step of this surreal three-year odyssey.”

Just How Bad Are The NPR Cuts?

“Here’s how bad cuts were at NPR this week,” posts NPR science correspondent Geoff Brumfiel: “They laid off the person who says ‘Support for NPR provided by…'” He was replying to Jessica Hansen, “voice of NPR”: “More than a hundred jobs were eliminated at NPR this week. My job as Announcer and Voice Coach is one of them. I have loved being on NPR’s air daily, and hearing from so many of you that you enjoyed my work, my articulation (you know who you are!), my voice. I’ll miss the community of colleagues–the kindest, smartest, funniest, boldest and most integrity-driven people I’ve ever known.”

MUSIC

Wisconsin Elementary School Says Dolly Parton And Miley Cyrus’ “Rainbowland” Duet “Too Controversial”

“A Wisconsin elementary school has been at the center of headlines after it removed Miley Cyrus’ and Dolly Parton’s ‘Rainbowland’ duet from its first-grade concert list, deeming the song ‘controversial,'” reports NBC 5. The Waukesha elementary school also removed “Rainbow Connection” from “The Muppet Movie.”

ARTS & CULTURE & ETC.

Hillary Rodham Clinton To Deliver Joanne H. Alter Women In Government Lecture

Chicago Humanities’ annual Joanne H. Alter Women in Government lecture will be given by Hillary Rodham Clinton on May 22. The annual lecture honors the late Joanne H. Alter’s pioneering work on behalf of women interested in social action and public service. Clinton will come to Chicago for an intimate conversation about her work advocating for civic engagement through Onward Together, her thoughts on current affairs, and her connection to Chicago’s own local activist Joanne Alter. More here.

Canadian Pacific Rail Cars Derail In Franklin Park

No toxic event this time, reports the Sun-Times. “Two Canadian Pacific Railway freight train cars derailed in Franklin Park on Sunday afternoon. No one was injured, the company said, and the tracks were cleared within hours. About 12:45pm, two cars, one carrying wheat and the other empty, came off the tracks.”

Regulator: Moving Hazardous Chemicals By Train Safer Than Trucks

“Not even the toxic fireball over an Ohio derailment could shake Martin Oberman’s belief that railroads are a safer way to move hazardous chemicals, and most other freight, than long-haul trucks,” reports the Tribune. “‘Would you rather have your family and your SUV driving down the highway at seventy-five miles an hour next to a truck filled with chlorine, and the guy doing the driving who didn’t get enough sleep, or would you rather have that chlorine on a railroad?’ asked Oberman, the nation’s most influential train regulator.”

Megabus Expands In Chicago

“Megabus is partnering with Burlington Trailways,” reports CBS 2. “They’re expanding service options for forty-eight cities, including Chicago. More stops have been added in Iowa, Michigan and Illinois.”

Wisconsin Conservation Groups Speak Up For Songbirds

“Deeply concerned with an estimated loss of thirty-percent of North American birds, Wisconsin conservation organizations have partnered in an initiative called SOS Save Our Songbirds,” reports the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “The effort, started by the Natural Resources Foundation of Wisconsin and Wisconsin Bird Conservation Partnership, is designed to raise awareness of birds’ dire situation and spur action by state residents at their homes.”

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