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ART
Armory Show Announces Exhibitors
The Armory Show has announced over 225 leading international galleries exhibiting in the 2023 edition, representing more than thirty-five countries and showcasing over 800 artists. New York’s Art Fair will return for its third year at the Javits Center September 8–10. Among them: Chicago’s Kavi Gupta, and Minneapolis’ Bockley Gallery and Dreamsong. More here.
Remembering Thomas Kong
“Thomas Kong, an artist who made whimsical, joyous collages cannily composed of food packaging, plastic bags and other material scraps, often sourced from the convenience store he operated in Chicago for seventeen years, died on 1 May. He was seventy-three,” reports The Art Newspaper. “For close to a decade Kong quietly made art behind his shop counter in the neighborhood of Rogers Park, cutting up objects including cigarette packs and snack boxes and glueing them onto cardboard or styrofoam containers. He often added a slip of paper printed with the words ‘Be happy.’ The store, Kim’s Corner Food, became a kind of gallery, too, as Kong’s creations gradually covered every inch of the room, lining the shelves and dotting fridge doors and the coffee station. An ATM stands by a wall papered with a beguiling hodgepodge: a creatively pruned Kit Kat wrapper, pristinely layered packaging with excised provenance, cut-out letters that spell ‘Cash station here.'” Chris Reeves checks out Kim’s Corner Food for Newcity here.
Terra Foundation Adds To Board Of Directors
The Terra Foundation for American Art has named Kaywin Feldman, Henry P. Johnson, Victoria Rogers and Catherine Sarr to its board of directors. More on Terra here.
DESIGN
Three Chicago Buildings Designated Among State’s Most Endangered
Landmarks Illinois announced its 2023 Most Endangered Historic Places in Illinois, calling attention to nine culturally and architecturally significant sites across the state that face growing threats of disinvestment and demolition. “Our 2023 Most Endangered sites show willful disregard for the proven environmental, social and economic benefits of reusing historic buildings,” said Bonnie McDonald, president and CEO of Landmarks Illinois. “At a time when Americans are calling for action to solve society’s pressing challenges, like climate change, inequality and housing affordability, there should be no passes for shortsightedness or neglect. We will continue to work with local residents and elected officials, as well as building and preservation professionals, to develop solutions for the reuse of these threatened places.”
Of the Century & Consumers Buildings: “These two vacant, but architecturally significant terra cotta-clad skyscrapers are located on State Street within the National Register-listed Loop Retail Historic District. Despite their prominent location and potential for reuse, the U.S. General Services Administration continues to consider demolishing them.” Of the Damen Silos: “Owner MAT Asphalt is proposing to demolish the iconic 1906 former grain silos in McKinley Park to potentially build new office and trucking facilities. Local residents oppose the plans, which would rob Chicago of an important piece of its industrial history and prevent a more environmentally friendly and equitable redevelopment of this highly visible site along the Chicago River.” More here.
CTA Gets $200 Million To Replace Aging Rail Cars
CTA “will use the Federal Transit Administration funding to buy up to 300 El cars,” reports Block Club. “They’ll replace cars that have been in use since the eighties. The CTA has 1,492 railcars across 145 stations.”
DINING & DRINKING
Removing Bud “From Your Vocabulary For The Night”
A tagline from 2015 for Bud Light, which was quickly retracted, read, “The perfect beer for removing ‘no’ from your vocabulary for the night.” Now, reports Block Club, “A slew of Chicago gay bars have stopped selling Anheuser Busch InBev products after the beer giant distanced itself from transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney’s Bud Light marketing campaign amid anti-trans backlash… The brand distanced itself from the star without addressing the transphobia.” Reports WGN 9 of the bars that gave notice, Sidetrack Bar posted a message on Instagram: “For forty-one years Sidetrack has encouraged liquor and beer companies that have wished to garner the LGBTQ+ customer base to actively support our community. For many years, there were very few companies that were willing to risk this sort of exposure… Until Anheuser-Busch can clearly demonstrate that they will not acquiesce to the voice of hate that wishes to erase LGBTQ+ existence, Sidetrack will continue to boycott their products.”
Kumiko And Milk Bar Named Two Of America’s Fifty Best Bars
The North America’s Best Bars 2023 listing is out, and number eight is Kumiko: “Infused with owner Julia Momosé’s attention to detail, Kumiko is a sophisticated cocktail bar that blends Japanese and American influences with style and finesse. The seasonal drink menu includes a thoughtful collection of sake, shochu and Japanese whisky.” Number thirty-eight is Milk Room: “Milk Room in the Chicago Athletic Association is an eight-seat bar where vintage spirits and liqueurs are transformed into contemporary cocktails. The 1930s space is beautifully restored and features an array of weathered, hard-to-find bottles.” More here.
FILM & TELEVISION
Newton Minow, FCC Chairman Who Called Television A “Vast Wasteland,” Mentored Obama, Was Ninety-Seven
Chicagoan Newton Minow, writes The Washington Post, “had towering impact on broadcasting by helping shape public television, satellite communications and presidential debates.” Adds Crain’s, “Minow got more mileage out of a two-word verdict than most poets or judges. His memorable description of TV as a ‘vast wasteland’ in 1961 followed him for the rest of his life… Minow’s Camelot-era stint as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission gave him a platform to be heard, if not heeded. His biggest legacies are the growth of public television and, here in Chicago, the rise of law firm Sidley Austin, where he counseled one of its former summer associates, Barack Obama, on an improbable presidential run.”
“Minow, a bespectacled bureaucrat who had recently been put in charge of the Federal Communications Commission, got up before 2,000 broadcast executives at a luncheon in Washington and invited them to watch television for a day,” writes Robert McFadden at the New York Times, “‘Stay there without a book, magazine, newspaper, profit-and-loss sheet or rating book to distract you, and keep your eyes glued to that set until the station signs off… I can assure you that you will observe a vast wasteland.’ The audience sat aghast as he went on: ‘You will see a procession of game shows, violence, audience participation shows, formula comedies about totally unbelievable families, blood and thunder, mayhem, violence, sadism, murder, Western bad men, Western good men, private eyes, gangsters, more violence and cartoons. And endlessly, commercials—many screaming, cajoling and offending. And most of all, boredom.'” Phil Rosenthal: “It’s not often you can say someone improved life in the US, but he certainly did.”
The Stakes Of The Strike By Screenwriters
The analyses (and the funny and sometimes brutal picket signs by screenwriters) are thick on the ground only a few days into a strike that could affect film and television production in Chicago as well as the services viewers subscribe to. A long strike is predicted by most prognosticators. Television writer Joanna Rothkopf dramatizes at the New Republic: “The proposals made by WGA and the studios’ responses are laid out in detail here, but essentially, writers hoped to address the shift from basic cable to streaming and adjust how we’re paid to reflect that shift. But even beyond that, the proposals were intended to make screenwriting a sustainable career—something it no longer is…The Guild estimates that its proposals would cost the studios $429 million per year, a drop in the bucket compared with the $28 billion in operating profits the studios reported in 2021, and the $773 million eight Hollywood CEOs made in 2022. And yet on count after count, the AMPTP not only rejected our proposals, but refused to even make a counter.”
MEDIA
On Its Last Day, BuzzFeed News Drops Epic Oral History Of Its Existence
“BuzzFeed News has been described as a chaos agent, a pirate ship, a reputable news organization, and, most notably, a ‘failing pile of garbage’ by former president Donald Trump,” the site relayed in thousands of words on Friday, its final day. “We wanted to tell our own story—in our own words—about what it was like to be a part of it.”
Atlanta Journal-Constitution Encourages Other Publishers To Front-Page Gun Editorial
Writing on Sunday after the latest Texas mass killing on Saturday, after the latest Georgia mass killing on Wednesday, Andrew Morse, the publisher of the Atlanta Journal-C0nstitution, writes, “We live with the terrifying reality that no place in our city is safe from the threat of gun violence… Every time we watch a gut-wrenching mass shooting unfold, we ask, ‘What can we do to ensure no city ever again endures the pain Atlanta suffered on Wednesday?’ There is a simple answer: We can change the laws… This isn’t a conservative or a liberal issue. This is an American issue. It is a human issue.”
The Tribune Has Spoken Of The King And His Failing Realm
The Tribune editorial board considered the question of King Charles III before his coronation. “You have Charles’ own complicated marital history. To global fans of the late Diana, Princess of Wales, the new Queen Camilla was a third wheel in a troubled marriage, even if most reasonable people have come both to like her and to believe the two septuagenarians are entitled now to some happiness. A more significant question for Charles, though, is how much of his mother Queen Elizabeth II’s domain he can continue to at least nominally command.” The key factor “is, of course, the enormous affection generally felt for the late queen, noted for her unprecedented decades of service, her lack of pretension and her global point of view. In essence, an archaic institution was grandfathered, or rather ‘grandmothered,’ into its own survival abroad and at home.”
Trib Gives Column To Perennial Mayoral Candidate Willie Wilson
Former Tribune columnist Eric Zorn is not impressed by a recent Tribune hire: “Oh, for goodness’ sake! Willie Wilson, a gasbag perennially rejected by voters, has never shown more than a surface understanding of the issues of our time, and labors under the delusion that merely because he’s a successful business owner and generous philanthropist, he should hold high office. Now the Tribune is fueling his delusions by giving him a column space every other Thursday.”
STAGE
Dance For Life Returns To Auditorium
Chicago Dancers United, which supports the health and wellness of Chicago’s professional dance community, has announced its program for the thirty-second annual fundraiser, Dance for Life. Dance for Life raises money for The Dancers’ Fund, which provides Chicago dance industry professionals with financial support for preventative health care and critical medical needs. The lineup includes BOOM CRACK! Dance Company, Chicago Tap Allstars, Giordano Dance Chicago with Giordano II and members of South Chicago Dance Theatre, Hiplet Ballerinas, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, The Joffrey Ballet, freelance performers Joseph Massarelli and Riho Sakamoto, Moonwater Dance Project, Muntu Dance Theatre and, for the finale, choreographer Randy Duncan. Dance for Life is Saturday, August 19 at the Auditorium Theatre. More here.
ARTS & CULTURE
Bally’s Casino Buys Out Freedom Center Lease; Hiring 700 Temps At Medinah Temple
“After months of negotiation, Tribune Publishing has agreed to leave the Freedom Center printing plant in River West by July 2024 to make way for Bally’s Chicago Casino,” reports the Chicago Tribune. “Bally’s, which bought the thirty-acre site last year, will give the newspaper company a ‘series of cash payments’ in return for its commitment to exit the Freedom Center, Bally’s Chairman Soo Kim said.” Also, reports the Trib, “From card dealers to seamstresses, Bally’s Chicago [is] hiring more than 700 to open a temporary casino at Medinah Temple.”
Dungeons & Dragons Started Almost Fifty Years Ago In Lake Geneva
“When Ed Schwinn thinks about the history of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin—and as president of the board of directors for the Geneva Lake Museum, he thinks about it quite a bit—he thinks of a summer retreat, a tourist town that has fewer than 10,000 year-round residents… He thinks of his grandfather, who helped steer the Schwinn Bicycle Company into becoming a household name, buying a second home on the lakefront in the 1920s,” writes Chris Borrelli at the Trib. “He thinks of all those wealthy, famous names associated with the history of the town—the Schwinns, the Wrigleys, the Maytags, the Wards then admits, ‘No matter how many well-known families have been coming here a century or more, I’m not sure any of us have done as much for the city of Lake Geneva as Gary Gygax.’ … ‘Call me biased because he’s my dad,’ said Luke Gygax, one of Gygax’s six children, ‘but I don’t know another figure from Lake Geneva who had as much impact beyond Lake Geneva as my dad. You should drive into Lake Geneva and there should be a sign, at the least, saying: “Lake Geneva, Home of Dungeons & Dragons.” Someone in local government should be arguing for this. Hopefully, the fiftieth anniversary will help.'”
Professional Outsider Has Way With Chicago… Again
“Slow Boring” columnist Matt Yglesias’ lede starts unpromisingly enough: “After spending more time in Chicago recently, a lot of people have been asking me if I’d like to revise the pessimistic outlook offered in my July 2022 post ‘I’m worried about Chicago.’” and he does tend to go on, as do many of his peers in the helicopter-ride view of Chicago do. “Affordability is nice in terms of ‘if you moved there, you wouldn’t need too much money.’ But it also [affects] a city’s entire culture and vibe. Part of the deal of big cities, ideally, is that they are hubs of art and culture and funky stuff as well as being hubs of business and industry. New York, when I was a kid, was like that, and I think Los Angeles and San Francisco were, too… Chicago was a place where one could be a starving artist or a struggling musician.”
“Chicago in the early twenty-first century spawned a lot of radical politics that I don’t agree with, but that’s part of a cool urban milieu because, again, Chicago was a place where you could get by as a weirdo radical. The affordability was also a boon to the city’s staggering dining scene, which covered the full spectrum from cheap-ass taquerias in Mexican American neighborhoods to the mind-blowing fine dining experience at Alinea. The only way to really excel at all points like this is to have a combination of affordable rents and massive scale, which Chicago does. This city has great cultural institutions, obviously…” Well, obviously, you know if you want to continue reading a stemwinder like Yglesias’ latest.
Oak Forest Bowling Center Burns To Ground
“Officials said an extra-alarm fire in the predawn hours Saturday completely destroyed the Oak Forest Bowling Center,” reports the Trib. “The thirty-two-lane bowling facility also included a bar area [and] an extensive beer garden with sand volleyball courts and bean bag pits, both home to summer leagues in addition to the bowling leagues that met in Oak Forest.”
Florida Passes Bill Allowing Trans Kids To Be Taken From Families
“The Florida legislature passed a bill Thursday that will let the state take transgender minors away from their families if they are receiving gender-affirming care,” reports the New Republic.
Insurers Withdrawing From Climate
“Insurers face a ‘crisis of confidence’ as global warming makes weather events unpredictable and increases damage,” reports Scientific American. “Aon PLC president Eric Andersen told a Senate committee that climate change is injecting uncertainty into an industry built on risk prediction and has created ‘a crisis of confidence around the ability to predict loss.’ Reinsurance companies, which help insurers pay catastrophic losses, ‘have been withdrawing from high-risk areas, around wildfire and flood in particular.'”
