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ART
Kerry James Marshall Stained Glass Piece In National Cathedral
Until 2017, “stained glass portraits of Confederate generals Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson adorned Washington National Cathedral” and “since 1953, effigies of Lee and Jackson occupied the nave of Washington National Cathedral in a niche not far from where Woodrow Wilson is buried,” reports the Architect’s Newspaper. That changed “last weekend when the windows were replaced with new ones by Kerry James Marshall that tell the story of civil rights movements in the United States. On September 23, Marshall joined Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, historian Henry Louis Gates Jr., California representative Sydney Kamalager-Dove, and Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington at a grand ceremony to inaugurate the new artwork entitled ‘Now and Forever.'”
DESIGN
Frank Lloyd Wright’s Only Theater Endangered
“The Kalita Humphreys Theater was built by arguably the most famous American architect of the twentieth century. It’s now a shell of its former self, and Dallas can’t decide how—or if—it’ll restore it,” reports Texas Monthly. It’s “five stories of cantilevered concrete shapes,” and its “exterior has hairline cracks, chipped paint, and a pair of dormant triangular fountains so rusted over you can’t discern their original color.”
Fern Hill Describes Project In Old Town Once Shepherded By David Adjaye
“Fern Hill revealed their proposal for a mixed-use development at 1600 North LaSalle at a Second Ward community meeting,” reports Urbanize Chicago. Plans include a new thirty-six-story tower with 500 rental units. “Fern Hill also addressed the future of the Treasure Island retail space, telling community members that they have been actively searching for a new grocery tenant and have no interest in keeping the space vacant.”
Midway Getting Lounge
Midway Airport plans to open a lounge next year, which comes “as traditional full-service airlines—such as United, Delta and American—are expanding and upgrading their lounges for premium customers,” reports Crain’s.
DINING & DRINKING
Guinness Open Gate Brewery Swings Open
Guinness Open Gate Brewery, a former rail depot in the West Loop, is now open, with a brewery, taproom, restaurant and bakery housed in a 15,000-square-foot space. Chicago is Guinness’ first bakery globally, and second brewery location in the United States, after a Baltimore opening in 2018. “This is an exciting step in the continuing evolution of the Guinness brand in America,” Rodney Williams, president of Diageo Beer Company says in a release. There will be twelve to sixteen rotating experimental draughts, most of which will be brewed on-site and available only in the taproom, alongside signatures like Guinness Draught Stout, Guinness Extra Stout, and Guinness Foreign Extra Stout, which will be imported from Dublin.
Led by brewer Megan Schwarz, the Chicago brewing team’s ten-barrel brewhouse’s initial line-up includes Corn Maize Cream Ale made from corn grown in Illinois’ Iroquois County, Kinzie Street Pale Ale and a Mango Chile Ale. Guinness 0 Non-Alcoholic Draught is also available. Chicago YIMBY has some pictures here. More from Diageo here.
With More Street Closures, Logan Square Farmers Market Adds Forty Vendors
“West Logan Boulevard will now be closed to cars from Milwaukee Avenue to Richmond Avenue every Sunday through October 29 to accommodate vendors and crowds at the popular market,” reports Block Club.
FILM & TELEVISION
Expansion Of Classic Cinemas’ La Grange Theatre Approved
“By unanimous vote, the La Grange Village Board approved an ordinance allowing Classic Cinemas La Grange Theatre to add three more auditoriums,” reports The Doings. “‘I’m excited,’ Chris Johnson, owner of Tivoli Enterprises, the operator of the theater, said. ‘My goal for the theater was to do 180,000 people for the year, and before this meeting, I like to be a little prepared, so I looked at between September 25, 2022 and September 24, 2023, we did 180,800 people.'”
LIT
Kogan Profiles Scott Turow Ahead of Fuller Award
“Scott Turow famously wrote many of his books while riding the train from his home in the northern suburbs to his law offices downtown. He is now one of the best selling, and best, novelists of his time, with an estimated thirty million copies of his books having been sold and read and enjoyed,” enthuses Rick Kogan at the Tribune. On October 5, “he will receive the Fuller Award from the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame in ceremonies at the Harold Washington Library.”
Turow’s “admirably prolific output is, of course, one of the main reasons the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame is honoring [him]. But throughout his literary career he has accomplished a remarkable juggling act as a practicing attorney. He handled big cases as a U.S. attorney, including serving as lead counsel in the Operation Greylord trial and later, in private practice, helping free an innocent man from death row. He was president of the Authors Guild, during which he filed an antitrust suit against Apple and major publishers, alleging that they conspired to raise the price of e-books.”
Boozy Book Fair With Semicolon On LondonHouse Roof
LondonHouse will partner with Semicolon Books to throw “a grown-up book fair.” On Wednesday, October 4, 4pm-7pm, “shop a selection of romance, fiction and self-help titles while sipping on sophisticated cocktails curated for this event at LH on 21, the indoor rooftop bar and lounge. The evening’s specialty cocktail, The Bookworm, features Ketel One Citron, apple liqueur, pineapple juice, and an apple slice with a gummy worm garnish.” Free and open to the public (books and cocktails sold separately). More here.
Bookshop Romances Roscoe Village
The Last Chapter Book Shop, which opened on September 2, “is a romance reader’s heaven, offering book-related posters and apparel in addition to the wall of romance books,” reports the Loyola Phoenix. “Owner Amanda Anderson said she opened her store, located at 2013 West Roscoe, to… celebrate romance readers and encourage others to embrace the… genre. Anderson said a genre-specific bookstore allows for tailored recommendations larger bookstores may not be able to provide. ‘We can truly celebrate so many aspects of romance because that is all that we are,’ Anderson said.”
MEDIA
Former Chicago Billionaire Ken Griffin Could Buy London’s Telegraph
“U.S. billionaire Ken Griffin may provide financial backing to a consortium led by fellow hedge fund manager Paul Marshall in a bid to take over the UK’s Telegraph Media Group,” reports Bloomberg. “The two financiers have discussed Griffin supporting the potential bid which Marshall is preparing to make through his UnHerd Ventures media group.” The Financial Times: “A proponent of free speech and advancing the ‘American dream,’ Griffin has provided more than $2 billion to philanthropic efforts. He is also a big donor to the Republican party. Griffin’s involvement in the Telegraph Group bid is in a personal capacity and not linked to Citadel… It would mark the first time he has personally invested in media.” The opinion weekly The Spectator is expected to be sold separately.
NIU Paper Apologizes For McCartney Death Rumors, Half-A-Century Later
“The student newspaper at Northern Illinois University apologized to Paul McCartney five decades after it published a story speculating that the former Beatles star might be dead,” reports Crain’s. “‘With our 1969 publication, we helped support the untrue, international conspiracy theory that McCartney had been replaced by a lookalike,’ the paper’s editorial board wrote in a story published Sunday. ‘For that, the Northern Star would like to apologize—even if it comes fifty-four years late.'”
Trib Says Biden On Picket Line Makes Him No Longer An “Honest Broker”
“We understand the political reasoning behind President Biden joining the United Auto Workers picket line in Michigan: Michigan will be a key swing state in the next presidential election, as it was in the prior election, and Democrats need to shore up support,” opines the Chicago Tribune editorial board. “We believe Biden should not have been there… When the president of the United States stands on a picket line… he loses the subsequent ability to act as an honest broker, to be able to pick up the phone and tell both sides to compromise for the sake of the American economy.”
MUSIC
DJ Teri Bristol Was Sixty-Six
“Teri Bristol was a big part of the dance music community here in Chicago and we were honored to host her at smartbar, often alongside DJ Psycho-Bitch. Our thoughts and prayers are with her family,” Smart Bar advises on Twitter. The cause was “kidney failure after years of struggling with the illness,” reports Resident Advisor. “Bristol began DJing in Chicago in the late eighties and has been credited for paving the way for women DJs. As a resident-turned-music director at Crobar, she ran inclusive LGBTQIA+ nights and developed the Glee Club party with Val Scheinpflug (aka DJ Psycho-Bitch).” (A 1993 Crobar set by Bristol is here.)
Hands Off Our Fest For “Femmes And Thems” In Blue Island
The first H.O.O.F. music fest will celebrate the “women, femmes and thems” of Chicago punk at the Blue Island Beer Co. this Saturday, September 30, from 3pm-11pm. Attendees “can expect vibrant performances by the finest ‘drag queens, kings and things'” from the Chicago area. On-site flash tattoos will be provided by Teddi Garson of Electric Tattoo Parlour in Carpentersville. Founded by Birdy Vee of Chicago rock band Sweetie, the H.O.O.F. music lineup emphasizes “artists on the margins of the male-dominated music industry.” Participating bands include Chicago area Sweetie, Heet Deth, Hi Ho, Shannon Candy, Won’t Stay Dead, Sex Dream and Sleeping Villains as well as Detroiters Hayley and the Crushers. Funds from the festival will go to the performers. Tickets ($25) and more here.
Keep South Side In Mind When Talking Hip-Hop History
“Our local venues, graf artists, radio stations, music stores, authors, producers, breakers, emcees, promoters, DJs, and folks who contributed to hip-hop deserve to be seen,” writes Evan F. Moore at South Side Weekly, as the genre’s fiftieth anniversary is celebrated.
Live Nation Ends Club Merch Cut; Throws Some Cash At Acts
“Live Nation announced a [developing-artist] program in partnership with Willie Nelson to end the merch fees that have been widely decried by artists—and give $1,500 to upcoming artists who play at participating clubs,” reports Rolling Stone.
STAGE
Jasmine Amy Rogers IS Betty Boop!
Broadway In Chicago has announced the casting of Jasmine Amy Rogers as Betty Boop in “BOOP! The Betty Boop Musical” at Broadway In Chicago’s CIBC Theatre for a five-week engagement, November 19-December 24. The director and choreographer says that “from the moment Jasmine walks into a room and shares that magnificent smile and her contagious laugh, you know you are in the presence of Betty Boop. And, like the cartoon Betty, Jasmine can do everything brilliantly–acting, singing, dancing–I know her performance will capture the hearts of audiences of all ages.” Rogers recently completed a run as “Gretchen Wieners” in the national tour of “Mean Girls.”
Federal Judge Appointed By Reagan Blocks Texas Bill That Would Restrict Drag Shows
Senior U.S. District Judge David Hittner, who was appointed by Ronald Reagan, has ruled “that a law severely restricting drag performances in Texas is unconstitutional and cannot be enforced,” reports Texas Public Radio. The “drag ban,” as it has been called by Texas Governor Abbott, is an “unconstitutional restriction on speech” and “violates the First Amendment as incorporated to Texas by the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution.” “The ruling is a victory for LGBTQ+ rights advocates who have said the law targets drag performers for no real reason.” (Judge Hittner, who is eighty-four, has been on senior status for nearly twenty years.)
ARTS & CULTURE & ETC.
Bug: Out! Spotted Lanternfly Spotted In Illinois
“The invasive spotted lanternfly has been identified in Illinois for the first time,” reports the Tribune. “Environmentalists across the state have long dreaded the arrival of the nuisance species, notorious for its spotted red and brown wings and the threat it poses to the more than seventy types of fruit trees and other plants it is known to consume. The East Asian insect was first identified in Pennsylvania around eight years ago and has been making its way west with rides hitched on railroad cars, [semis] and other vehicles.”
One In Five Chicagoans Identifies As Mexican
“The Mexican community is one of the Chicago area’s largest ethnic groups,” reports Amy Qin at WBEZ. “About one in every five Chicagoans is Mexican, and the group makes up the majority of those who identify as Hispanic or Latino in Chicago, according to a WBEZ analysis.”
Dissolution Of Trump Organization In New York’s Impact In Chicago Not Yet Known
“A judge in New York found the former president and his company deceived banks, insurers and others by massively overvaluing his assets and exaggerating his net worth to get favorable loan terms and lower insurance rates,” reports the Sun-Times. The judge “ordered that some of Trump’s business licenses be rescinded as punishment, making it difficult or impossible for them to do business in New York, and said he would continue to have an independent monitor oversee the Trump Organization’s operations.”
The decision is considered by many observers to be a “corporate death penalty.” The effect on the local Trump outpost is yet to be seen. The dissolved entities, which will now be in receivership, are not limited to The Trump Organization, Inc., the Trump Organization, LLC, the DJT Revocable Trust and holding companies like DJT Holdings, LLC.
“The showcase Trump International Hotel & Tower Chicago is cited as an example of how Trump allegedly undervalued property if it would save him money and overvalued property if it helped him get bigger loans. When he needed collateral, he and his team placed a high value on the property. When he wanted a tax break, he called the property worthless, according to [New York Attorney General Letitia] James’ lawsuit,” reports the Trib.
How A Republican Shutdown Of Federal Government Affects Chicago
“There are 42,637 federal employees in Illinois,” reports the Sun-Times, including “federal law enforcement and 22,600 active duty military members. Under a shutdown, all active duty service members and some law enforcement officers would remain at work but receive no pay until funds are appropriated… Environmental Protection Agency inspections at hazardous waste sites, drinking water and chemical facilities would stop. And about 10,000 children across the country would immediately lose slots for Head Start.”
Seventeen States Join Antitrust Action Against Amazon Monopoly
“The U.S. government and seventeen states are suing Amazon in a landmark monopoly case reflecting years of allegations that the e-commerce giant abused its economic dominance and harmed fair competition,” recounts CNN. “The 172-page complaint alleges Amazon unfairly promotes its own platform and services at the expense of third-party sellers who rely on the company’s e-commerce marketplace for distribution.” (The full complaint is here.)
