Today In The Culture, August 31, 2023: Chicago Live! Showcases City’s Performing Arts | Non-Profits Lease the Loop | Pizza City Statement

“The Golden Girls Save Xmas–The Lost Episode Parody Series”/Photo: Hell In A Handbag Productions

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ART

Raheleh Filsoofi Named Joan Mitchell Fellow

ENGAGE Projects artist Raheleh Filsoofi has received the 2023 Joan Mitchell Fellowship. Filsoofi is one of fifteen artists across the United States who will receive $60,000 in unrestricted funds across five years. The primary granting program was reconceived in 2021, transforming it into a multi-year financial commitment that provides longitudinal support to the chosen artists. More on the fellowship here. More on Filsoofi’s work here.

Arsenic Takes Down Sioux Falls Museum Exhibit

“Arsenic use common in museums but city standing firm on disposing of exhibits,” intros The Dakota Scout on the “decision by the Great Plains Zoo to shut down the Delbridge Museum of Natural History… The Great Plains Zoo this month abruptly shut down the museum after arsenic was detected in a 170-specimen exhibit of exotic animals taken in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. And though the arsenic levels are low and commonly found in taxidermy from that era, city and zoo officials say disposing of the collection is their only viable option.”

DESIGN

Corporate Downsizing Makes For Bargain Leases For Smaller Concerns

“We feel like we hit the jackpot”: “The Loop spaces companies are leaving behind are available for lease at bargain rates, making it possible for smaller firms and nonprofits to move into nicer spaces than they would otherwise be able to afford,” reports the Tribune. “‘There is such a high vacancy rate in the Loop that now is a good time for any organization to take advantage of the great deals out there,’ said Valerie Hawthorne-Berry, senior director of facilities for Heartland Alliance, a Chicago-based human rights organization. Heartland Alliance is moving from an old office property at 208 South LaSalle into a bright modern location in the East Loop.”

Amazon CEO: You Better Come Back To The Office

“Amazon employees have been pushing back against the company’s return-to-office policy for months—and it seems CEO Andy Jassy has had enough,” reports AP. “Jassy told employees it was ‘past the time to disagree and commit’ with the policy, which requires corporate employees to be in the office three days a week. The phrase ‘disagree and commit’ is one of Amazon’s leadership principles, and was used often by the company’s founder and current executive chairman, Jeff Bezos.”

“Housing Is a Labor Issue”

“Landlords are taking all our wage gains,” writes journalist Hamilton Nolan at How Things Work. “It doesn’t have to be this way… In vast swaths of America, including most of its vibrant major cities, the single most overwhelming economic issue that is squeezing workers is the cost of housing. It is the sort of mega-issue potent enough to drive mass migrations and warp major life decisions like college and marriage and starting families. It governs regular people’s entire financial lives. As housing costs rise past the point of affordability, all other decisions about money are subordinated. Every other expenditure must bend the knee. What good is a higher wage, if all of it goes directly to the landlord?”

CTA Plots “Chatbots” For Future Real-Time Tracking 

CTA President Dorval Carter says, “We will soon introduce our new chatbot which will provide automated assistance information to our customers, allowing more customer real-time feedback about service conditions they may be experiencing on our system,” reports NBC 5. “The CTA says the Chatbot project is still in its earliest stages, with no word on when it may roll out to users.”

Obama Center Cuts Down More Jackson Park Trees

“The Obama Center cut down approximately 350 large, mature trees in Jackson Park, with plans to destroy 470 more trees,” posts Save Jackson Park on Twitter with a video of the Women’s Garden, Jackson Park, “days before being destroyed to be a storage area for OPC construction equipment.” Prairie District Neighborhood Alliance posts a photo of the felled old-growth trees ready for removal.

DINING & DRINKING

Steve Dolinsky Apologizes Somewhat For His Pizza “Fyre Festival”

“For the second year in a row, attendees are calling Pizza City Fest a disaster. Some even likened the pizza festival, curated by longtime Chicago TV personality Steve Dolinsky, to the debacle that was the Fyre Festival,” reports Eater Chicago. “Dolinsky sent out a media statement on Tuesday night and apologized to guests, pinning the problem on a generator that [affected] six ovens: ‘We are doing everything in our power to make things right with affected guests and we are already focused and working on improving all processes moving forward,’ part of the statement reads.” Ashok Selvam’s entry also delves into the online back-and-forth on Pizza City Fest, collating comments by food and journalism voices including Michael Nagrant, Jim Romenesko and Ari Bendersky.

Mondelez Could Return Maker Of Twinkies To Chicago Ownership; Price Hikes Make Company Tasty

“Hostess Brands Inc, the maker of Twinkies snack cakes, is exploring a sale after fielding takeover interest from major snack food makers,” reports Reuters. “Hostess became an acquisition target after it raised prices on some of its products to boost revenue, fueling investor concerns over its prospects.” Crain’s: Chicago’s Mondelez International is among the corporations showing interest. “Among other suitors Hostess is reportedly considering are General Mills, PepsiCo and Hershey… An acquisition by Mondelez would bring the Twinkie back under the ownership of a Chicago company. The snack cakes were first developed in 1930 by Continental Baking, then based in Schiller Park. Twinkie production stayed there in the Chicago suburb until the bakery was closed in 2014.”

FILM & TELEVISION

Chicago International Film Festival Fifty-Nine Opens With “We Grown Now”

The fifty-ninth Chicago International Film Festival will open on Wednesday, October 11 at the Music Box with the U.S. premiere of “We Grown Now,” the story of two boys growing up in Cabrini-Green in 1992 Chicago, starring Jurnee Smollett and S. Epatha Merkerson, and written and directed by Chicago native Minhal Baig (“Hala”). The film, presented by Stage 6 Films in association with Participant, is a Symbolic Exchange and Participant production. Opening night begins at 5pm with a free-to-attend block party spanning the 3700 block of Southport, featuring live music, outdoor film screenings, retail kiosks, and food vendors, with the screening at 7pm. More here.

LIT

Amazon ChatGPT-Generated Mushroom Foraging “Gibberish” Could Kill People

“Experts are worried that books produced by ChatGPT for sale on Amazon, which target beginner mushroom foragers, could end up killing someone,” reports 404 Media. “Experts say that AI-generated foraging books… could actually kill people if they eat the wrong mushroom because a guidebook written by an AI prompt said it was safe.”

MEDIA

Director Named At Medill State Of Local News Project

Sarah Stonbely, the research director at the Center for Cooperative Media at Montclair State University, has been named director of Medill’s State of Local News Project, the group announces. “In that role, Stonbely will oversee Medill’s nationally cited research on the growing spread of local news deserts and the emergence of new models to address the crisis. She will work closely with Medill Visiting Professor Penny Abernathy, the pioneer of this local news research, and Tim Franklin, the director of the Medill Local News Initiative.”

CNN’s New Boss Hails From BBC And New York Times Stints

“Mark Thompson [was] named CNN chief executive and chairman at [a] critical juncture in [the] news network’s history. A former director-general of the BBC, Mark Thompson transformed The New York Times into a digital powerhouse,” reports CNN. “Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav zeroed in on Thompson because of his work at the New York Times, where he significantly boosted the brand’s digital subscription numbers during his eight-year stint as CEO (2012-2020). During Thompson’s tenure, subscription numbers rose from over half a million in 2012 to 6.5 million subscribers when he exited the company in 2020,” adds TV Newser.

Former Alt-Weekly Mogul And Backpage Founder Faces Second Trial

Michael Lacey, “a founder of the lucrative classified site Backpage.com, will face his second trial on charges of facilitating prostitution and laundering money in what authorities say was a scheme to knowingly sell ads for sex on the site,” reports Associated Press. Jury selection for the former alternative press mogul and four former Backpage employees was scheduled to begin in federal court. “Their first trial ended in a mistrial in September 2021 when a judge concluded prosecutors had too many references to child sex trafficking in a case where no one faced such a charge… Lacey had founded the Phoenix New Times weekly newspaper with James Larkin, who was charged in the case and died by suicide in July. Lacey and Larkin held ownership interests in other weeklies such as The Village Voice and ultimately sold their newspapers in 2013. But they held onto Backpage, which authorities say generated $500 million in prostitution-related revenue from its inception in 2004 until 2018, when it was shut down by the government.”

MUSIC

Riot Fest Announces Hourly Schedule

Riot Fest has announced the daily and hourly schedules for 2023, with Foo Fighters headlining Friday and The Cure closing out the fest on Sunday with two-hour sets. On Saturday, Ben Gibbard’s bands, The Postal Service and Death Cab For Cutie will play full album plays, of “Give Up” and “Transatlanticism.” This is the first live show for The Postal Service in a decade. These attractions will be rounded out by Queens of the Stone Age, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, The Used, Insane Clown Posse, Sleep Token, Turnstile, The Mars Volta, Mr. Bungle, Tegan and Sara, 100 Gecs, The Gaslight Anthem, Death Grips, AFI among dozens of others. Tickets here.

Elastic Arts Loses Dave Rempis After More Than Two Decades

“For more than two decades, saxophonist Dave Rempis has been a key community builder in the improvised-music scene, both locally and internationally, working behind the scenes as well as onstage,” report J.R. Nelson and Leor Galil at the Reader. “He’s made incalculable contributions during his long association with Chicago nonprofit Elastic Arts: since 2002 he’s booked its Thursday night Improvised Music Series, and he’s served as the organization’s board president since 2015… Rempis is stepping away from Elastic [so] he can focus more on his own work and artistic practice. ‘It’s important for these types of generational changes to happen,’ [Rempis] says. ‘There are a lot of young people in the scene with ideas about how things should happen, so this is a moment for them to step up and do the work.'”

STAGE

Navy Pier’s “Chicago Live!” Performance Schedule

Navy Pier has finalized the schedule for its free performing arts festival, “Chicago Live!,” which is set for Saturday, September 23-Sunday, September 24. More than 600 artists, representing eighty Chicago-based performing groups, will perform back-to-back on three stages and sites throughout the Pier. Mavis Staples headlines. This is the event’s third year, after its 2021 launch to reconnect audiences with Chicago’s performing arts community after the first eighteen months of the pandemic. Performances span music, dance, theater, spoken word, improv and vocal performance. Check out the impressive, wide-ranging roster and more here.

Links Hall’s Season Set

Links Hall’s fall season, running September 17-December 23, features innovative performances from Chicago artists and international visitors. The season begins at their Open House with movement workshops and free dance photo sessions on Sunday, September 17. The puppets of “Nasty, Brutish, & Short” visit Links again with a raucous cabaret evening. J’Sun Howard’s new work, “The Righteous Beauty of the Things Never Accounted For (Work-In-Progress)” is in line, as well as international performances at Bridge Dance Festival. Links Hall’s 2023 Fall Co-MISSION Residents will develop work from September through December and share what they create in the studio with a Work-in-Progress performance. The season closes with the Winter Solstice Sunrise concert series. Tickets and more here.

Hell In A Handbag Opens Season

For its twenty-second year, Hell in a Handbag Productions’ season features three world premieres and the return of a fan favorite. Handbag’s devotion to “the best camp and parody insures the preservation and celebration of this unequivocally queer art form.” “The Golden Girls Save Xmas—The Lost Episode Parody Series” opens in November, featuring an all-new holiday tale by artistic director David Cerda. “Blanche accidentally incapacitates Santa Claus on the night before Christmas. Can the girls save the holidays in time for all the children of the world to get their toys on Christmas morning?”

Come spring, Handbag presents the world premiere of “POOR PEOPLE! The Parody Musical,” written by ensemble member Tyler Anthony Smith, directed by Stephanie Shaw, with music direction by Andrew Milliken, “an insane homage to the characters, songs and tropes of those very expensive Broadway and West End musicals about the less fortunate.” Handbag closes its season next summer with the world premiere of artistic director David Cerda’s “Scary Town,” “the tale of a bunny in search of himself, or perhaps, an autobiographical story about Cerda himself?” Season tickets here.

In The Chopin Basement With Kokandy

“Kokandy Productions has made a Wicker Park basement a destination for inventive musical theater,” writes Web Behrens at Chicago magazine. “Outside-the-lines patterns shouldn’t come as a surprise for a company that wears its gay heart on its sleeve. ‘We have queer leadership, both with [founder] Scot Kokandy and I,'” Derek Van Barham, Kokandy’s producing artistic director, says. “And we build queer circles with artists we enjoy working with. That’s hand in hand with cult material: ‘I found this thing that spoke to me, and I made it my own.'”

Toronto Tallies Troubles In Theater, Too

“As entertainment centers like Toronto become increasingly diverse, theaters that continue to program works with only their ever-shrinking base of traditional patrons in mind may fade into irrelevancy among the pool of potential audiences they need to attract,” reports the Toronto Star. Says a drama teacher: “Mainstream theaters that continue to receive the largest share of the funding are still predominantly white institutions and they’ve historically been deeply exclusionary and unwelcoming spaces.”

ARTS & CULTURE & ETC.

American Airlines Flight Attendants Authorize Strike

At American Airlines, ninety-nine percent of 26,000 flight attendants have voted to authorize a strike, relays More Perfect Union via Twitter. Pilots at American just won a forty-six-percent raise.

Tummy Gun’s Garage

Developing story that could well be disproven: The shooting during a White Sox game “was indeed an accidental discharge by one of the women ‘grazed’ by the bullet. She reportedly snuck the gun in past metal detectors hiding it in the folds of her belly fat,” ESPN host Peggy Kosinski posts on Twitter.

Tribune Takes Mayor To Task After Sox Shooting

“There is so little known, and so much wrong, with what happened Friday that we don’t know where to start,” the Tribune editorial board avers. “Friday was a disaster for the White Sox and Chicago. It’s remarkable how little outrage has been expressed or how little explanation for what happened has been demanded by the news media… There were vested interests in saying as little as possible. The Sox want it all to go away. The police don’t want to say much until they believe they have all the facts. And the Johnson administration’s preferred narrative of deemphasizing crime and punishment and promoting social programs does not easily mesh with bullets flying around a baseball park.”

Friday Morning Swim Club Dunked

Mass aquatic gathering no more: “Organizers of the popular meet-up at Montrose Harbor said they were calling off the swims after police showed up at last week’s ‘unofficial’ gathering,” reports the Sun-Times. “The Park District works with promoters to try to issue permits that meet the goals of the promoters but that do not pose a threat to the safety of event participants and allow an appropriate and responsible use of public property,” the park district said in a statement. “The first step in initiating the permit process is to submit an application.” A park district spokesperson “said that a permit application still hasn’t been submitted for the event, ‘nor has any intention to do so been made clear by the organizers.'”

Adds Block Club: “The weekly Lakefront meet-up that routinely attracts thousands of swimmers was called off amid concerns the event occurs before swimming is allowed, isn’t patrolled by lifeguards and encourages prohibited floats.” The organizers sit down for an “influencer”-style Instagram video here.

Zebra Technologies To Fire 700

“The producer of barcode systems and other equipment that speeds manufacturing is facing an order slowdown now that supply chains are returning to normal,” tallies the Sun-Times. “The Lincolnshire-based company has said in a regulatory filing it will reduce its global employee headcount by seven percent via buyouts, or what it called a ‘voluntary retirement plan.’ In its 2022 annual report, Zebra said it had 10,500 workers.”

“Chaos” As DeSantis’ New College Of Florida Reopens

“Months after what critics have decried as a conservative takeover at New College of Florida, students and professors say a sense of confusion and anxiety looms over the start of fall semester in Sarasota,” reports CNN. “Amy Reid, a member of the school’s board of trustees, said course options have dwindled after nearly forty percent of faculty members have resigned. Reid said the situation is quickly becoming ‘untenable.'”

Treasury Report Tallies Unions’ Economic Benefits

“Vice President Harris and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen held a rare joint press call to tout the benefits of union membership, releasing a Treasury report that shows wages for union members are fifteen-percent higher than non-union workers,” reports Reuters. “The White House has been pushing to support unions and expanded union membership as part of Biden’s plan to overhaul the U.S. economy, fight inequality and reallocate more corporate profits to the middle class.”

Narcan Over The Counter

“The overdose-reversal drug should be more widely available, health experts have said,” reports The New York Times. “Big-box outlets like Walgreens, CVS, Walmart and Rite Aid [expect] Narcan to be available online and on many store shelves early next week… no prescription necessary… Public health experts have long called for greater accessibility to the drug, which they describe as a critical weapon against rising overdose rates. There were more than 100,000 opioid overdose fatalities in each of the last two years in the United States.”

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