Baby Beluga Opus/Photo: Shedd Aquarium
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DESIGN
Ricardo Scofidio Of Diller Scofidio + Renfro Was Eighty-Nine; Designed High Line
Architect Ricardo Scofidio co-designed museums, art venues and public spaces, including New York City’s High Line and reshaped America’s cultural landscape, sketches CNN. “The ambitious Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) in Boston, opened in 2007, signaled Diller and Scofidio’s arrival as a major architectural force.” It was New York’s High Line “that propelled Diller and Scofidio into mainstream consciousness… Completed alongside landscape architect James Corner and garden designer Piet Oudolf, the project transformed an abandoned freight train line into a one-and-a-half-mile-long linear park on Manhattan’s West Side.” The firm designed the ten-story David Rubenstein Forum on the University of Chicago campus, completed in 2020.
Brick Makes Comeback In Urban Architecture
“Brick, stone and terra-cotta, products that have the solidity and hue of earth, have timidly but perceptibly snuck back into New York’s repertoire of architectural ambitions,” reports Curbed (free link). For instance, “the firm Leroy Studio has built a brick-and-terra-cotta rejoinder at 145 Perry Street: a massive single-family home masquerading as a nested pair of small apartment buildings. In this part of the West Village, where the city’s residential and industrial histories overlap, nineteenth- and twentieth-century builders of sturdy, low-budget structures had a limited choice of palettes: mostly red or cream-colored brick. Leroy used both hues, slipping a dark-skinned retreat behind an off-white veil. A perforated screen of staggered bricks turns the corner at Washington Street; openings in the wall give onto recessed windows, like a mask that leaves the wearer’s sunken eyes exposed. This is anti-exhibitionistic architecture, a private mansion that offers only tantalizing glimpses of itself.”
The Forgotten Artisan Behind Frank Lloyd Wright
Nicaraguan artisan Manuel Sandoval’s important contributions to twentieth-century modernist design have long been buried, recollects Hyperallergic. “The carpenter was Nicaraguan and he’d been part of the 1932 founding class at Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin Fellowship in Wisconsin. Sandoval is also mentioned in passing in Meryl Secrest’s 1998 biography of Wright, which notes that the young man had been interested in studying architecture, but Wright—renowned for exploiting the labor of his apprentices—preferred to keep him in the woodshop.”
DINING & DRINKING
Chef Carlos Gaytán’s “Back To My Roots” Returns At Tzuco
Chef Carlos Gaytán is bringing Tzuco’s monthly “Back to My Roots” menu back for a second edition. The menu features dishes drawing from the ingredients and gastronomy of each region in Mexico, starting this month with Chef Gaytán’s birthplace of Guerrero. “Guerrero is known for its diverse landscapes, from the Pacific coastline to the mountains of the Sierra Madre. Guerrero’s gastronomy is a reflection of its rich history and cultural influences, blending Indigenous, African and Spanish traditions.” The specials include Pozole Verde ($16) with maize, pork, mole verde stew, oregano, avocado, chicarron and pork tostada: “Pozole Verde is a special dish my mother often made, a Thursday tradition in Guerrero.”
Also: Chileajo ($30): chorizo-stuffed quail, guajillo chile and roasted garlic tomatillo sauce, black bean puree, pickled red onion, lime juice, tortillas. “Chileajo is a deeply personal dish that brings back memories of my childhood. The sauce, made with guajillo chile, roasted garlic and tomatillo, is slow-cooked to develop a smoky, rich flavor. My mother prepared it after hunting trips with my father—a beautiful balance of warmth, spice and tradition.” More here.
Hiro Izakaya Takes Former Porto Space In West Town
Celeste Group has announced Hiro Izakaya will open this spring in the former Michelin-starred Porto space at 1600 West Chicago in West Town, closed since summer of 2023, relays Eater Chicago. “A news release describes the ‘live-fire robota grill’ as the restaurant’s soul. They’ll still serve seafood in the space as sushi will be on the menu. Small plates and family-style dining options are also planned. While not naming any chefs… the release says a group of culinary experts who worked at Asian fusion staples Sunda and Nobu developed Hiro’s menu.” Instagram here.
FILM & TELEVISION
“Breakfast Club” Reunion At Chicago Con
The cast of John Hughes’ 1985 “The Breakfast Club,” including Ally Sheedy, Anthony Michael Hall, Emilio Estèvez, Judd Nelson and Molly Ringwald, will come to Chicago next month as part of C2E2, reports WMAQ-TV. “C2E2 says this will be ‘the first and only time ever’ the full main cast will reunite in Chicago.” Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo, April 11-13 at McCormick Place.
Behind The Abrupt Collapse Of Technicolor, Including In Chicago
“On Friday, February 21, Technicolor began alerting customers and employees that it was facing ‘severe financial challenges.’ This included sending U.S. employees a WARN notice as required by law for large companies that anticipate closings and mass layoffs,” chronicles Variety. “Technicolor’s leadership worked through the weekend to find a solution, but by Monday… the business began to shut down its global operations. The stunning collapse of the iconic company… was a tragic blow to an already volatile VFX business. The closure affected thousands of visual effects artists around the world, including those in the United States, U.K., Canada and India—and it came not long after… lead work on ‘Mufasa: The Lion King’ was shortlisted for a VFX Oscar.”
LIT
Melinda French Gates Brings New Book To The Auditorium
The Auditorium will host an evening with philanthropist Melinda French Gates for her book, “The Next Day: Transitions, Change, and Moving Forward,” which will be released April 15. Tickets ($44.50 and up) for the Wednesday, April 23 event include a hardcover copy of the book. Tickets here.
What’s A Bookstore To Do With A “Problematic” Author?
“From taking Neil Gaiman titles off shelves to lessening Alice Munro’s presence in displays, there are a variety of responses,” reports Chris Hewitt at the Minnesota Star Tribune.
Book Biz Prepares For Tariff Blows
The administration’s on-again, off-again twenty-five-percent tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada, as well as a ten-percent increase to tariffs on goods from China, went into effect on March 4; some have been briefly postponed. But, reports Publishers Weekly, “the publishing and printing industries are still left with more questions than answers as they look for ways to navigate the new levies. While American publishers will now face higher costs, printers in the United States hope that the tariffs will lead to more business… While the amount of printing done in Canada and Mexico is far less than in China, the new tariffs on those two nations present other challenges. For one thing, the United States imported $1.82 billion of uncoated paper, some of which is used in books, in 2023, according to government statistics, with sixty-seven-percent of that paper coming from Canada.”
MEDIA
What Do Cuts To Public Media Mean?
California State University-Monterey Bay news and talk KAZU Pacific Grove, and Natural Bridges Media variety KSQD Santa Cruz “are pondering their future during this eightieth anniversary year for public radio, with no indication that it will make it to an eighty-first,” reports Inside Radio. “For KAZU, an affiliate of NPR and other entities supported by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the threat of a cutoff in federal funding, which has been suggested by newly appointed FCC chair Brendan Carr and Elon Musk, is very real. The CPB’s $212,000 grant, the only government funds KAZU receives, accounts for nearly ten-percent of the station’s revenue… The grant was part of the more than $80.2 million the CPB allocated in 2024 in community service grants to radio stations nationwide, making up an average of six-percent of all public radio broadcasting revenue nationally.
“‘It’s easy to say that it’s only ten-percent, therefore it doesn’t matter,’ KAZU interim general manager Douglas McKnight says, ‘but we are a nonprofit radio station. So when we have income, it doesn’t go to shareholders or for bonuses. Every nickel we get we use it to provide public service to the community. So what that ten-percent means is that we would have to find another revenue source, or we would have to cut back ten-percent of what we do. And that’s a shame, because there is a great need now to get out information that is fact-checked, provide civil debates and civil discussions and background information on what’s going on in the world. So, if we lose that ten percent, we would have to adjust our expectations.'”
MUSIC
Ghetto House Originator DJ Funk Was Fifty-Four
“Charles Chambers was a key innovator in dance music, speeding up beats and adding raunchy lyrics, and inspiring Daft Punk and Justice,” reports the Guardian. As “DJ Funk, the producer who coined the term ‘ghetto house,’ he was one of the Chicago scene’s key innovators.” Also known as “booty house,” “songs like Work Dat Body, Pump It and Run became dancefloor fillers across the American Midwest and eventually around the world, powered by their call and response lyrics, which were often crude and overtly sexual.”
Fifteen Best French Horn Players Of All Time Include Former CSO Principal Horn
Dale Clevenger is the sixth-best French horn player of all time, as charted by Singersroom, calling him “a legendary American horn player whose career is marked by his outstanding contributions to both orchestral and solo horn playing. Known for his powerful sound, impeccable technique, and precise articulation, Clevenger spent over four decades as the principal horn of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, setting a standard of excellence for orchestral horn players worldwide. His playing was known for its bold, rich tone, which perfectly complemented the grand, sweeping sound of the Chicago Symphony, making him a cornerstone of the orchestra’s brass section.”
Jazz Legend Roy Ayers Was Eighty-Four
“Roy Ayers, a legendary jazz vibraphonist, keyboardist, composer and vocalist known for his spacy, funky 1976 hit ‘Everybody Loves the Sunshine‘ that has been sampled by such R&B and rap heavyweights as Mary J. Blige, N.W.A., Dr. Dre, 2Pac, Mos Def and Ice Cube, has died,” chronicles AP. “Ayers had twelve albums land in the Billboard 200 album charts.” His 1983 track, “Chicago,” is here.
The Military Band That Plays Ukrainian Troops’ Funerals
“As Ukrainian casualties spiral after years of war, a military band has the melancholy but key task of bidding farewell to troops and raising morale,” reports the New York Times. “‘We treat every funeral like it’s our most important concert, as we are saying farewell to those because of whom we are still here,’ said Private Lev Remenev, a songwriter in civilian life who volunteered to fight in the army but instead wound up in the 101st Separate Guard band, where he plays the piano. The mission of the band’s twenty-one members is to show two sides of Ukraine’s struggle three years into the war: acknowledging the unbearable toll and keeping up the spirits of those who press ahead with the fighting.”
STAGE
Steppenwolf Sets 2025 Gala For May
Steppenwolf Theatre Company’s ensemble and board of trustees will host Steppenwolf Gala 2025, an evening kicking off the theater’s fiftieth anniversary celebration. This year’s Gala takes place on Saturday, May 10 at Steppenwolf. Tickets ($1,500-$100,000), sponsorship opportunities and more here.
CHRP To Expand Mayfair Arts Center
The Chicago Human Rhythm Project has secured $792,000 from the Chicago Department of Planning and Development, alongside $350,000 in private funds, to expand and improve the Mayfair Arts Center in Calumet Heights. The CHRP-managed space is shared with eight partners, including Black Girls Dance, Najwa Dance Corps, Deeply Rooted Dance Theater, Movement Revolution Dance Crew, Emma Mae’s SunRays, Ayodele Drum and Dance, Russell Talbert Ballet and Juliani Ensemble. “CHRP acquired the building at 8701 South Bennett in July 2021, when the pandemic forced the family-run South Side institution, the Mayfair Academy, to close after sixty-three years, potentially creating a cultural vacuum in an already disinvested neighborhood.” More here.
ARTS & CULTURE & ETC.
“It’s More Urgent Now”: Trib Notes Growing Protests Against Lawlessness
“Chicago is set to see at least six protests throughout the city, from a rally for Ukraine… to a march for International Women’s Day,” signs the Trib (gift link). “A common theme appears to unite them all: a rejection of Trump, Elon Musk and the administration’s attacks on constitutional and federal law.”
Illinois Holocaust Museum Opening Downtown Location
The Illinois Holocaust Museum is undergoing major upgrades, they relate. “This includes a new visitor welcome center, a state-of-the-art auditorium and a reflection space within the Holocaust exhibition. To facilitate these renovations, the Museum will temporarily close for construction starting July 1. While the Skokie location is temporarily closed, the Museum will open a satellite site at 360 North State at the former Broadcast Museum. This space will showcase some of our most popular exhibitions, allowing us to continue reaching visitors.” More here.
Shedd’s Baby Beluga Is “Opus”
Chosen by aquarium members, the name “Opus” for Shedd’s baby beluga “nods to the unique vocalizations these whales make and honors his father,” announces the aquarium.
Mapping Butterflies Near You
Butterfly populations are falling in the United States, reports the New York Times, with an infographic map to chart butterflies near you. (In Chicago 128 species included in the study may be found.) “Little-understood and vastly underappreciated, insects play an outsize role in supporting life on earth. They pollinate plants. They break down dead matter, nourishing the soil. They feed birds and myriad other creatures in the food web. ‘Nature collapses without them,’ said David Wagner, an entomologist at the University of Connecticut. Dr. Wagner, who was not involved with the new research, called it a ‘much-needed, herculean assessment.'”
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