Mary Beth Fisher in Rebecca Gilman’s “Swing State”/Photo: Liz Lauren, Goodman Theater, 2022
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ART
Questions About Armory Show After Purchase By Frieze
“In mid-July, when Frieze announced they had bought the Armory Show in New York, the acquisition seemed aimed at leveling up the company to Art Basel—which remains the arbiter of art world success,” relays ARTnews. “But the move raised one uncomfortable question that remains unanswered: how Frieze would juggle both the Armory Show and Frieze Seoul, which run concurrently, in an already over-saturated art world calendar. And that’s, of course, leaving aside the fact that Frieze already hosts a fair in New York in the spring.”
DESIGN
Iconic Chicago Architectural Fragments In Norman Kelley-Designed Art Institute Exhibition
“Fragments of buildings by American architects such as Frank Lloyd Wright and Louis Sullivan have been displayed at a new exhibition by design studio Norman Kelley,” reports Dezeen. “Fragments from iconic buildings are on display at the Art Institute of Chicago as part of a permanent exhibition called Architectural Fragments from Chicago… Norman Kelley mounted multiple pieces of demolished or renovated Chicagoan buildings onto square grey panels measuring eight feet by eight feet with stainless steel, mirrored trim in the museum’s Henry Crown Gallery. The exhibition includes twenty-seven architectural fragments and three lightboxes… Lightbox installations include a geometric stained glass window from Frank Lloyd Wright’s Coonley Playhouse and the Tiffany Studios 1917 Hartwell Memorial Window that depicts a sprawling landscape of over forty-eight panels.”
More Buses Will Arrive From Texas; Mayor To Alders: Suggest Two Or Three Migrant Base Camp Sites In Your Ward
It’s not certain where the migrants arriving in five more buses can go when they get to Chicago in the coming days, reports NBC 5. “We’ve identified multiple locations around the city that can be suitable to treat the families and individuals who, by law, are seeking asylum constitutionally,” Mayor Johnson said Friday, reports ABC 7. “Johnson defended his plan to put up giant heated tents in parts of the city to house up to 1,000 migrants, which he said would provide a more dignified place to stay…. The base camps would provide food, cots and health services and would be the first stop for incoming migrants. Each tent would house 500 to 1,000 people.”
St. Adalbert’s Gets Landmark Status
“The Commission on Chicago Landmarks voted unanimously to award landmark status to St. Adalbert’s Church complex at 1650 West 17th in Pilsen. It had preliminary status before. The move will preserve the structures on the property,” reports WBBM Newsradio.
A Baker’s Dozen Microhomes For Evanston
“A developer is proposing to put thirteen very small houses on an Evanston site, a plan that he believes is fundamental to keeping the North Shore town’s housing market open to people who might otherwise be priced out,” reports Crain’s. “‘The only thing we can do to reach a price point that’s attractive to the teachers, the firefighters, the police officers, the people you want to keep in your neighborhood is to build smaller housing.'”
Red Line Extension Gets Some Of The Billions It Needs
“The Federal Transit Administration has committed $1.97 billion to extend the CTA Red Line south to 130th Street, a key source of funding,” reports the Tribune. “The funds are considered locked in for the agency as the project progresses into future phases. The money is less than the CTA initially sought for the extension of the Red Line, the transit agency’s busiest route. The agency had requested $2.37 billion, or sixty-percent of the estimated project cost. It was an unusually large request, and the federal agency told the CTA the maximum it would pay was half the cost of the project. That leaves the CTA with some $400 million” to go.
Obama Foundation Pulling Out Of Tiger Woods Golf Course?
“Barack Obama’s foundation distanced itself this week from plans to combine two South Side golf courses into a professional-level course” near the center that bears his name, reports Block Club. “Tiger Woods’ design firm, TGR Design, signed on in 2016 to combine the eighteen-hole Jackson Park and nine-hole South Shore golf courses into a single, PGA Tour-caliber course.”
Historic Chinatown Warehouse Redeveloping As Four-Star Hotel, Offices, Retail
“Developer Windfall Group told the Chicago Commission on Landmarks that it wants to start transforming 465 West Cermak, a warehouse along the South Branch of the Chicago River, into Pacifica of Chicago, a four-star hotel with a public riverwalk, as early as 2024,” reports the Trib. “Historic preservationists applauded Windfall’s proposal and said the former wholesale grocery warehouse, designed in the Prairie style by Nimmons & Fellows and completed in 1909, represents a time when even industrial properties included artistic flourishes.”
Society Of Architectural Historians Announces Awards
The Newberry will be the site for SAH Celebrates, the annual awards and fundraising event of the Society of Architectural Historians, on Friday, November 3. “The event celebrates the achievements of individuals and groups who shape the built environment and passionately advocate on behalf of historic places. Six individuals will be honored at the event: Ann M. Beha, FAIA RAIC, founder, Ann Beha Architects (Annum Architects); Susan Benjamin, owner, Benjamin Historic Certifications; Fred Eychaner, philanthropist and president, Alphawood Foundation; Elaine Harrington, retired, SAIC and House Museum Curator; Kevin Harrington, Professor Emeritus, Illinois Institute of Technology; and Emily Rauh Pulitzer, founder, The Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts.
“’SAH Celebrates’ is our opportunity to recognize outstanding individuals whose achievements have influenced architecture and the built environment globally. The event brings together leaders in architecture, design, preservation, real estate and civic communities to celebrate the achievements of our honorees,” Ben Thomas, executive director of SAH and the Charnley-Persky House Museum Foundation, said in a release. More here.
Demolishing Arlington International Racecourse
The Tribune’s got thirty seconds of video of the state of the wreckage on the Arlington site here.
Logan Square’s “Extremely Dangerous” Family Dollar Closes
City records show the 30,000-square-foot Family Dollar in the building at 2274 North Milwaukee failed its last four inspections, reports Block Club, and has closed after more than twenty-five years. “Family Dollar’s departure leaves a large hole on bustling Milwaukee Avenue next to the California Blue Line station.”
Bally’s Casino Landlord Gets Almost $18 Million
After the gambling enterprise in River North opened this past Saturday at 8am, “Albert M. Friedman will get more than $16.5 million in rent and a $330,000 management fee under his four-year lease,” reports the Sun-Times. “Bally’s also must pay a property tax bill that’s topped $1.1 million a year.” Friedman is “the clout-heavy developer whose tenants have included three mayors—Brandon Johnson, Lori Lightfoot and Rahm Emanuel… Bally’s executives have said they expect to turn a monthly profit at Medinah of $3.5-$5 million through the end of this year.”
“City officials are banking on eventually getting as much as $55 million in yearly tax revenue from the temporary casino and nearly $200 million a year from the permanent casino… The lease shows that Bally’s is actually subletting Medinah Temple under the lease Friedman signed with Bloomingdale’s in April 2001.”
Chinese Battery Firm Gets $500 Million In State Incentives For $2 Billion Plant In Kankakee County
“Lured by more than a half a billion dollars in state incentives, the Chinese high-tech lithium battery company Gotion plans to operate a manufacturing plant in Kankakee County that Illinois officials say will create 2,600 full-time jobs and further propel the state toward its goal of being a hub for the nation’s burgeoning EV industry,” tallies the Tribune. “Governor Pritzker and U.S. Senator Duckworth are trying to seal deals with Asian companies—the governor with a direct line of communication with business heads, and Duckworth with two Asian trips under her belt this year,” reports the Sun-Times.
DINING & DRINKING
Guinness Open Gate Brewery And Taproom Open In West Loop At End Of Month
“It’s finally happening, Chicago! Our taps start pouring Thursday, September 28,” Guinness posts on Facebook. “Mark your calendars. We’ll see you soon (finally!). Sláinte!” The Sun-Times: “Guinness, part of the liquor giant Diageo, has said it expects the business to employ about seventy-five… It will be its second taproom in the U.S. The first was outside Baltimore and continues to operate, although the company earlier this year closed a brewery nearby, laying off about a hundred.” The Trib first-looks the menu: “The restaurant menu, designed in partnership with the hospitality groups behind Stefani Prime, Bar Cargo and Broken English Taco Pub, highlights global foods that can pair well with Guinness, said chef de cuisine Taylor Bischof, who opened Brekkie & Bake Shop in the now-closed Dr. Murphy’s Food Hall in 2020 and worked with Roanoke Hospitality before joining the Open Gate Brewery team.”
Black Restaurant Week Continues
Black Restaurant Week continues through September 24,relays Block Club, “an effort to boost the visibility of and support for Black-owned eateries… Now in its fourth year, Chicago Black Restaurant Week aims to boost local economies by promoting restaurants and culinary entrepreneurs who can’t afford expensive marketing campaigns.”
Kroger To Offload Mariano’s To Facilitate $25 Billion Merger With Albertsons; Kroger Makes Time-Release $1.2 Billion Opioid Settlement
Kroger and Albertsons announced “they would sell off more than 400 grocery stores, including fourteen [of forty-four] in Illinois, to C&S Wholesale Grocers [operators of Piggly Wiggly] for $1.9 billion,” reports the Trib. “Mariano’s parent Kroger is planning to acquire Jewel-Osco parent Albertsons.” The companies “would sell off the Mariano’s brand name as part of the deal.” The two largest traditional grocery operators in the the U.S. hope to obtain FTC approval of their $24.6 billion merger.
Kroger has “agreed to pay about $1.2 billion to states, local governments and Native American tribes to settle claims that its retail pharmacies played a role in fueling the opioid crisis. Kroger, which was accused of improperly monitoring prescriptions… filled in its store pharmacies, said it would pay the settlement over eleven years, beginning in December. The company said legal fees, which will be paid over six years, would add $177 million to the total,” reports the New York Times. “States, subdivisions, and the Native American tribes will have an opportunity to opt-in to participate in the settlement,” Kroger writes in its press release here.
Wisconsin’s Sprecher Sodas Go Nationwide
“Sprecher is the fastest-growing craft soda company in the U.S… Sprecher stands out in the beverage industry by fire-brewing its sodas and beers in a kettle, and using raw Wisconsin honey as its primary sweetener for its colas… Sharad Chadha, a former GE Healthcare and Samsung executive, purchased the thirty-eight-year-old soda and beer maker Sprecher Brewing in 2020 from its founder despite having no prior experience running a beverage company,” reports Food Dive. “Chadha gained a regional premium soda maker near Milwaukee best known for its root beer that, for years, was stuck in the middle: doing well enough to survive but unwilling to take risks to turn itself into a national player and a competitive threat to Coca-Cola and PepsiCo.” Says Chadha, “Craft soda is where craft beer was fifteen, twenty years ago.”
Former Starbucks CEO Didn’t Think Frappuccino Held “Essence Of Starbucks”
“Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz was initially opposed to introducing the Frappuccino,” reports Insider. “Schultz worried that customers wouldn’t get the ‘essence of Starbucks’ from the drink.” Said Howard Schultz in an interview, “I think Frappuccino is a great example of Howard Schultz being one-hundred-percent incorrect, wrong and on the wrong side of the debate.”
FILM & TELEVISION
Media Burn Virtually Previews Dick Biondi Doc, Hosted By Robert Feder
A virtual preview screening of excerpts from Pamela Pulice’s upcoming documentary, “The Voice that Rocked America: The Dick Biondi Story,” featuring a discussion with Robert Feder, will be online Thursday, September 14, 6pm-7pm. Reservations and details here.
New York Alamo Drafthouse Locations Unionizing
“Workers at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in Lower Manhattan filed a petition to unionize,” reports Hellgate, “joining workers at the Downtown Brooklyn theater in organizing with the UAW, with employees at both locations saying that the brutal ‘Barbenheimer’ rush left staff at both theaters discussing their options. Like their counterparts in Brooklyn, union organizers at the Lower Manhattan theater worry that severe short-staffing and insufficient hours are straining employees to the breaking point… They also pointed to management’s [alleged] mishandling of sexual harassment and anti-gay comments by other employees as a reason they decided to unionize.”
MEDIA
Senate Confirms Fifth FCC Commissioner
Anna Gomez, a former NTIA official and Sprint lobbyist, gained Senate approval as an FCC commissioner last week by 55-43, a position that had been unfilled for seven years. Posts Free Press, “The vote finally creates a Democratic FCC majority at the agency—for the first time since the beginning of the Biden administration. The unprecedented thirty-two-month delay had deadlocked the FCC, and was the result of concerted efforts by the phone, cable and broadcast lobbies to hamstring the agency that oversees their businesses. Gomez’s confirmation restores the agency’s full complement of commissioners and provides a tie-breaking vote on issues related to diversifying media ownership, promoting broadband affordability and protecting the rights of internet users.”
Next TV: “With a majority, Democratic chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel will be able to tackle controversial issues including restoring network neutrality rules, reforming the FCC’s Universal Service Fund subsidies, and potentially re-regulating broadcasting and applying regs to streamers for the first time, though that last one is likely a nonstarter unless Congress weighs in to make it explicit that the FCC has authority over over-the-top video.”
Trib: Mayor Using Race To Deflect
“Wise political heads know, or eventually come to know, that it is better to be a happy and thick-skinned political warrior—Governor Pritzker generally lives this mantra—and understand that criticizing that criticism, or deeming all of it illegitimate on its face, is moving into dangerous territory in a democracy. This is closer to Trumpism, or even Putinism, than what we’d like to see occurring in Chicago,” opines the Tribune editorial board. “Johnson would be better served simply by answering questions. That’s how you unify a city.”
But recently, “he declared that questions about how fast or slow his administration was or was not moving were rooted in racial prejudice against a Black mayor, and he called on his allies to ‘call it out.’ ‘You know, there’s coverage of me being slow, right?” Johnson said… ‘ These are microaggressions.’ … Mayors have been asked by reporters about how fast they were enacting their stated agenda as long as there have been mayors and reporters. If mayors enacted everything quickly, reporters would question if they were moving too rapidly. And when things appear sluggish… then reporters are duty-bound to ask why things are not moving more quickly. This is their job. It is called accountability. It is a democratic check on leadership, enshrined in the… Constitution, and throughout American history, it has worked pretty darn well.”
MUSIC
“Miracle In Mundelein” Brought Cannabis Consumption To Concert
“The Miracle in Mundelein, an outdoor music festival last Saturday and Sunday headlining stoner rappers Cypress Hill, not only allowed but encouraged cannabis consumption,” reports the Tribune. “While a few other events have offered buses where people can consume, this concert let people imbibe openly while watching from within a fenced lot… Cannabis [wasn’t] sold on the grounds, but [could] be purchased at the Rise dispensary across the street, or patrons [could] bring their own in sealed containers. Plans call for a cannabis beverage garden, joint rolling stations and dab bars to burn concentrates. Small pipes and vape pens [were] allowed.”
STAGE
Goodman’s “Swing State” Takes Manhattan
“Rebecca Gilman’s ‘Swing State,’ directed by Robert Falls, is being presented Off Broadway [with the original Chicago cast at the Minetta Lane Theater],” reports Laura Collins-Hughes at the New York Times. “‘When you go to a prairie, it’s just teeming with life—butterflies, bugs, birds, everything,’ she said on a stiflingly hot August afternoon in an upstairs lounge at the Goodman Theater, where her new play, ‘Swing State,’ was in rehearsals for its New York run. ‘It’s an ecosystem. Everything depends on everything else.’ … Like so many inhabitants of this bellicose, burning planet, Gilman worries about its survival if people cannot find a way to coexist and cooperate, at the most intimate local level and beyond. In ‘Swing State,’ [Gilman] wrestles with that anxiety, and with the hopelessness that it can bring.”
ARTS & CULTURE & ETC.
Trump Bronx Public Golf Course Lease Transferred To Bally’s
“The Trump Organization has sold its right to operate a public golf course in the Bronx,” reports AP, “offloading control of the publicly owned property to a company Bally’s Corporation, which [wants] to build a casino in New York City.” Bally’s “will take over the job of running the eighteen-hole course, known as Trump Golf Links Ferry Point… The deal appeared to mark a resolution in the city’s battle to rid the course of its association with the former president, whose bold-faced name has for years greeted drivers passing the course on the Whitestone Bridge.”
Walmart Cuts Wages
Starting pay at Walmart has been cut, reports AP. “Walmart, the nation’s largest private employer, is making adjustments to its pay scale that will mean some new store workers, like those fetching online orders, begin at a lower hourly pay rate than they would have a few months ago.”
Texas Paid $31 Million To Bitcoin Miner To Pause During Heat Wave
Different states have different priorities: “The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) paid a bitcoin miner $31.7 million in energy credits in August to not mine bitcoin,” reports Texas Public Radio. According to Bitcoin miner Riot, the company “curtailed its power usage by more than ninety-five-percent during peak demand by powering down its computers that were grinding out bitcoins… The credits Texas offers to the bitcoin mining industry has made it a sought-after state for these companies to do business.”
