Today In Culture, October 9, 2023: Chris Rock and Spielberg To Take Eig’s MLK to Big Screen | Printmakers Collaborative Founder Stepping Down | Parson’s Goes Pizza

Kartemquin-Hulu Accelerator recipients Brydie O’Connor and Luke Terrell

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ART

Founder Of Chicago Printmakers Collaborative Stepping Away

“While the studio is in its prime, I have decided to begin the process of stepping away from directing the Chicago Printmakers Collaborative in order for the workshop to chart its future course with younger leadership,” writes director-founder Deborah Maris Lader in a letter laying out CPC’s future plans for members. “Beginning in January, some of our programming will be paused, including classes and gallery exhibitions. Thirty-four years ago, a new printmaking studio was started in a second story walk-up in Wicker Park, a raw space where cold Chicago winds gusted through old windows, and the nearest place to get a snack was cut rate liquor on Division.”

“The bricks rained salty residue on the tables and floor, but there was always someone’s baby or toddler around to wipe up the mess by crawling around in their overalls. A hoarder who collected broken Xerox machines lived in the back and there was an occasional fire when he cooked on an old hotplate as he napped with his five cats. We never did get around to taping the drywall over there. A defunct printshop that had occupied the space had laid vacant for many years, and left behind one combo etching press, a stomp shear from 1898, some stones, and a metal bin full of solvent-soaked sawdust… Not exactly the stage set where dreams are made, but somehow, in my ignorant youth, I decided this was what I was meant to do… The very best part was that printmakers showed up.” More CPC here.

DESIGN

Fast Passes For Christkindl Market 

“You can experience the magic of the Christkindlmarket Chicago at Daley Plaza by taking advantage of our express entry,” the market posts. Once you buy the fast pass, you also “don’t have to worry about the annual souvenir mug selling out—you’ll secure and receive that one at the entrance!”

Migrating Birds Smash Into McCormick Place By The Hundreds

“At least 960 migrating birds, the highest number on record, died Thursday in ‘massive carnage’ at McCormick Place Lakeside Center, according to David Willard, a retired bird division collections manager at the Field Museum,” reports the Tribune. “Birds were crashing into windows even as monitors collected the casualties… ‘You’re looking at a rose-breasted grosbeak that, if it hadn’t hit a Chicago window, would have made it to the Andes of Peru.'”

A Skeptical Look At Latest CTA Service Changes

CTA service changes include reductions, reports StreetsBlog Chicago, applying a fine-tooth comb to just-released schedules.

DINING & DRINKING

Land & Sea Will Replace Ukrainian Village Parson’s Chicken With Pizza

“Land and Sea Dept., the group that runs the popular Parson’s restaurants, launched Dicey’s Tavern last year in Nashville,” tallies Block Club. “Instead of going into a new location, Dicey’s will open at 2109 West Chicago early next year after the company rehauls the Ukrainian Village Parson’s, which opened in 2021.” The location will close at the end of October.

Land & Lake Ravenswood Closed

“After more than a year of operating at the corner of Montrose and Damen, the time has come for Land & Lake Ravenswood to close our doors,” posts LM Restaurant Group. “Our final service [was] October 8.”

Staggered Implementation Of Minimum Wage For Tipped Works Okayed; Chicago Nation’s Largest City To Do So

“The lower tipped wage for those in the service industry will be phased out in Chicago over the next five years,” reports the Trib. The ordinance becomes law immediately. Chicago is the largest American city “to independently require that tipped employees make a full minimum wage, following a relatively easy City Council vote that delivered Mayor Johnson one of his biggest wins so far for his progressive agenda. In a 36-10 vote, aldermen approved the measure that advocates said was direly needed for the lowest-paid service workers and that opponents countered would backfire, causing some employees in the service industry to be paid less and lead to higher menu prices and staff cuts” across the coming five years.

Quack-Quack, Jab-Jab: Sixty-Four Million French Ducks Immunized

“To protect its flocks and its foie gras from the ravages of bird flu, France has begun a mass vaccination of sixty-four million ducks,” reports the New York Times. But the program “led to a quick reaction from the United States, which said it would restrict imports of ducks and other poultry from Europe. ‘France’s decision to vaccinate presents a risk’ of introducing the disease into the United States, the U.S. Agriculture Department said.'”

FILM & TELEVISION

Chris Rock To Direct Adaptation Of Jonathan Eig’s “King: A Life” For Spielberg’s Amblin And Universal

“Chris Rock is in final negotiations to direct and produce a biopic of civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr.,” writes the Hollywood Reporter. “Universal is behind the project and has optioned the rights to Jonathan Eig’s biography, ‘King: A Life.’ Steven Spielberg will executive produce the project via his Amblin Partners.”

Hulu-Kartemquin Accelerator Selects Participants For Third Year Of Partnership

Kartemquin Films and Hulu have named Brydie O’Connor (“Barbara Hammer Project”) and Luke Terrell (“Unlocked”) as the third set of filmmakers to participate in the Hulu-Kartemquin Accelerator. Through the fund, each will be awarded $30,000 toward production of their original documentary feature in co-production with Kartemquin, one-on-one mentorship and a first look by Hulu.

“Kartemquin Films is thrilled to continue our partnership with Hulu in support of these truly dynamic stories,” said Kartemquin executive director Betsy Leonard. “From the iconic life and work of pioneering lesbian experimental filmmaker Barbara Hammer to the tenacity of two former incarcerated leaders using coding to upend the prison education system, we believe that these timely projects illuminate only a fraction of the cultures, histories, impact of LGBTQIA+ communities.” More here.

Making Records: Taylor Swift Movie Advance Sales Pass $100 Million

Advance global ticket sales for “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” have surpassed $100 million a week before the concert film opens in over 8,500 theaters worldwide on October 13. “Advance ticket sales are strong across the U.S. market, and especially for premium large-screen formats like IMAX, Dolby Cinema and PRIME at AMC,” counts the Hollywood Reporter. “In North America, the film is set to play in 4,000 movie theaters.”

LIT

Support For Library Workers Sought As Bomb Threats Become Common

“City and suburban libraries have seen threats in recent weeks. Chicago Public Library employees said administration didn’t do enough to inform staff,” reports Block Club. “While Illinois passed a law in June outlawing book bans in public libraries, a rash of bomb threats at Chicago-area libraries, including Chicago Public Library branches, has library workers and community members concerned. Advocates are calling on the city’s library system to have better protocols for dealing with such threats.”

Ordinance To Restrict Little Book Libraries Stalls

“An ordinance seeking to require a permit to build public bookcases on city-owned land was at least temporarily delayed during [a] City Council meeting,” Dewey-decimals Block Club. “Introduced this summer by Ald. Raymond Lopez (15th), the ordinance would require a public way use permit to build a free library on city-owned property. Little Free Libraries are often placed on city parkways outside their owners’ homes.”

America’s First Book Ban Was In 1637

“Just seven years after the Puritans’ arrival, an Anglican lawyer named Thomas Morton published a book that threatened the young colony and its residents’ covenant with God,” reports the Smithsonian. “‘New English Canaan,’ a three-part text published in Amsterdam in 1637, is mostly filled with detailed observations about the region’s Indigenous people and descriptions of plants, animals and natural resources that could be commodified by white settlers. But a brief section at the end offers a withering critique of the Puritans and the society they were building, including their treatment of Native Americans.”

“Shortly after ‘New English Canaan”s publication, the Puritans outlawed the text in their colonies, committing what historians consider the first act of book banning in the present-day United States. Fewer than twenty-five of the original copies from Amsterdam survive today, but far from disappearing, the book has cropped up continuously over the last four centuries in other works of literature and history.”

MEDIA

North Carolina Broadcaster That Invoked Judgment Of Christ Relents On Met Opera Broadcasts

“The music director of a nonprofit North Carolina classical radio station said on Thursday that the station would reverse course and air several contemporary operas being performed by the Metropolitan Opera this season that the station had originally said were unsuitable for broadcast, citing their ‘adult themes and harsh language,'” reports The New York Times. Earlier, WCPE general manager, Deborah S. Proctor, who called the station’s programming “a safe refuge from the horrors of life,” broke “into tears” during an NPR interview, stating, “I have a moral decision to make here. What if one child hears this? When I stand before Jesus Christ on Judgement Day, what am I going to say?”

MUSIC

Bandcamp Firings Set With New Owner

The union Bandcamp United has called on imminent owner Songtradr “to meet their demands as Bandcamp ownership changes. Songtradr has responded, saying ‘not all employees will receive offers,'” reports United Musicians And Allied Workers on Twitter, including a petition. Reports Future Party, “Big fans are the lifeblood of Bandcamp—just twenty percent of users drive a whopping eighty percent of the company’s revenue. And although Bandcamp only had $20 million in revenue last year, the company is profitable and actually the biggest seller of independent music worldwide.”

“The key to Bandcamp’s success is vinyl sales, which has re-emerged as the top way for fans to listen to their favorite artists. Coupled with the outsized demand for moviegoers to watch ‘Oppenheimer’ in IMAX 70mm, premium physical products and experiences may be undergoing a renaissance after a decade of all-you-can-stream digitization.”

STAGE

London Climate Protestors Shut Down “Les Misérables”

“Five Just Stop Oil protestors have been charged with aggravated trespass after a performance of ‘Les Misérables’ in London’s West End was halted,” reports the BBC. “A video shared by the activist group showed demonstrators getting up on to the Sondheim Theatre’s stage and asking the audience to ‘join the rebellion.'” The protest took place “during the show’s famous protest song of ‘Do You Hear the People Sing?’ It is often described as being about a revolutionary call to action and has been used all over the world by protest movements, including in the 2019 Hong Kong demonstrations.”

ARTS & CULTURE & ETC.

CME Head Goes After Mayor: We “Don’t Agree On Anything”

“There’s no reason for us to want to leave,” CME head Terry Duffy tells Crain’s. “But at the same time, if the atmosphere gets to the point where it’s intolerable, we have no choice.” Writes the paper, “Few businesses have Chicago roots as deep as the CME Group Inc.—the company has been based in the city for more than a century and its very name derives from the location (the letters refer to the company’s Chicago Mercantile Exchange business). But CEO Terry Duffy doesn’t feel constrained by those ties, with many of the exchange’s leases coming up for renewal in 2025.”

Here Are Illinois’ Wealthiest Billionaires

Thirteen Illinoisans are on Forbes “400 Richest People in America” roster. Plucked from the list by NBC 5: Lukas Walton, $24.2 billion, a grandson of Walmart founder Sam Walton; Patrick Ryan, $10.1 billion, CEO and founder of Ryan Specialty Group, a Chicago-based wholesale brokerage and specialty insurance firm; Neil Bluhm, 85, $6.3 billion, owner of 900 North Michigan and the Ritz Carlton; Mark Walter, $5.7 billion, CEO of investment firm Guggenheim Partners; Ty Warner, $5.7 billion, creator of Beanie Babies; Joe Mansueto, $5.6 billion, investment research firm Morningstar; Thomas Pritzker, $5.6 billion, one of eleven billionaires within the Pritzker family, executive chairman of Hyatt hotels; Elizabeth Uihlein, $4.9 billion, political activist and president of Uline; Richard Uihlein, $4.9 billion; Eric Lefkosky, $4.3 billion, founder of Groupon; Joseph Grendys, CEO and president of poultry processer Koch Foods; J.B. Pritzker, $3.5 billion, governor of Illinois; Penny Pritzker, $3.3 billion.

Times Says Venezuelan Influx To Chicago “Not Always Clear” As Nights Cool

“What has drawn the migrants to Chicago is not always clear,” claims the New York Times. ” Some eagerly boarded buses to Chicago at the southern border because they recognized the name of the city and assumed that it was large enough to offer opportunity and a place to work. Officials in Chicago pointed to Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas, a Republican, for his campaign to bus migrants to liberal cities out of political motivation, but some migrants arrive… on trips paid for by charities, volunteer groups or family members.”

Smaller Countries “Paying The Price” For Influx Of Nurses Elsewhere

“As U.S. healthcare workers quit in droves, record numbers of migrant nurses from the Philippines and elsewhere are filling the void… Since the pandemic, the U.S., U.K. and… European nations have recruited nurses from underdeveloped regions at a higher-than-usual rate, at the expense of poor countries’ health systems,” reports the Pulitzer Center.

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