Illustration: David Heo
MADE IN CHICAGO: CULTURE & NIGHTLIFE
Best rock ‘n’ roll legacy of a non-rock genre
Chicago Blues
The Rolling Stones have kept a firm grip on their rep as the greatest rock ‘n’ roll band of all time. But it wasn’t rock ‘n’ roll that first drove them into the studio. Founders Mick Jagger and Keith Richards were powerfully influenced by the Chicago blues artists who recorded for the city’s Chess Records label. The band’s name, in fact, is an homage to Muddy Waters’ song “Rollin’ Stone,” recorded in Chicago in 1950. (Robert Rodi)
Best Ferris wheel in the town that invented Ferris wheels
Navy Pier
George Ferris’ visionary feat of engineering, designed to outdo the Eiffel Tower, made its debut at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, and featured thirty-six passenger cars that held between forty and sixty customers (depending on whether they were sitting or standing). Its Navy Pier successor, arguably the most iconic Ferris wheel in the country, was inspired by the original—although it’s about a hundred feet smaller. (Robert Rodi)
600 E. Grand
Best storefront opera company
Third Eye Theatre Ensemble
If you think you know opera because you clicked on a YouTube video of The Three Tenors, you owe it to yourself to partake of the magic of Chicago’s vibrant storefront opera scene. Critical acclaim and audience worship has been lavished on Third Eye Theatre Ensemble, a prime example of these companies. Performing contemporary opera in intimate spaces set to stories about today’s tribes, Third Eye has mounted eight productions, including an international premiere and several national premieres, in five short years, entertaining over four-hundred delighted fans, sitting so close to the action they were ducking spittle. (Aaron Hunt)
847.430.4341, thirdeyete.com
Best music movement invented in Chicago
House Music
It can’t be defined by sound. It can’t be defined by instrument, singer, genre or BPM. House music is defined by feel and reaction. It’s defined when Alan King plays Stevie Wonder’s “As” in one of his sets at Chant or when John Simmons drops Machine’s “There But For The Grace Of God Go I” in one of his Vocalo mixes. And oh yeah, original house music is solely defined by region. Chicago is its own region, ain’t it? (Scoop Jackson)
Best homemade crossover act
DJ King Marie
On her June EP, “The Prelude,” King Marie proclaims “I already know I’m a queen, I’m gonna show ‘em why they call me king.” Marie doesn’t say anything she doesn’t mean, and in true fashion she spent the summer backing up that statement. Already one of the most celebrated DJs working the Chicago scene, she stepped from behind the turntables at Complexcon this year, returning to her first love of singing while releasing merch to match. If this year was any indication, we should experience her royalty for years to come. (Jake Krzeczowski)
Best dance movement invented in Chicago
Steppin’
Rule No. 1: Know that steppin’ is not a dance, it’s a culture. Rule No. 2: The tango, foxtrot and all other international bullshit they do on “Dancing With the Stars,” is just that, bullshit, when measured against the greatest couple dancing ever created. Rule No. 3: Steppin’ was born, raised, groomed, perfected and gonna maybe die somewhere on Halsted in Chicago. Rule No. 4: It’s what James Brown invented his music for. (Scoop Jackson)
Best bar movement invented in Chicago
Venture into an authentic—not fake or boujee—lounge or tavern on the West or South Sides, where all of the liquor is above the bar and at the same time sold in brown paper bags, order a “mixed” drink, notice the ratio of alcohol-to-chaser is 80/20. That is because “real” Chi imbibe establishments (aka: neighborhood) don’t employ people to tend bar, they employ “whiskey pourers.” In this new-aged -ism of alcohol, the whiskey pourer is attempting to make a comeback in cool, ultra-hip establishments across the country. Just know, they started in—and never left—Chicago. (Scoop Jackson)
Best place to take an out-of-town guest
Thorne Miniature Rooms
The out-of-towner to-do list can get so overdetermined (thanks a bunch, Ferris Bueller). Sure, you could take your guests on an architecture boat tour, or up to the observation deck of Willis Tower. Or, you could take them to the Thorne Miniature Rooms. Tucked in the basement of the Art Institute, the collection of tiny models of period rooms is a unique, wholly unexpected find. Who could guess that waiting downstairs is a miniature world of built-to-scale furniture where no detail is overlooked? You and your guests are bound to find yourself arguing over wall treatments and whether you would rather have lived in sixteenth-century France or England. Even if interior design isn’t your thing, there’s something about the minute details (keep an eye out for extra-tiny models of children’s playthings) that you can’t help but be amazed by. (Jenny Dally)
111 S. Michigan, artic.edu/departments/PC-15/thorne-miniature-rooms
Best made-in-Chicago party experience
Cold Chillen
A few years ago, Eric Lopez got tired of the usual parties. Yearning for something that represented the Chicago he grew up knowing, he created the Cold Chillen brand. Alongside longtime friends from local neighborhoods, the imprint is based around a collective concept of authentic events. The collective, which includes writers, photographers and designers, has built a following with RSVP lists that fill within hours of announcement and collaborations with the likes of Chicago White Sox and Hennessey. (Jake Krzeczowski)
coldchillen.com
Best Chicago-born nineties street dance to make an international comeback
Footworking
The recent mainstream visibility of this West and South Side-born street dance is linked closely to The Era crew, which has taken the high-tempo, foot-flying form from alleyways to a broad range of venues and audiences: Pitchfork, Links Hall, the Museum of Contemporary Art and international workshops—particularly in Japan, where Chicago Footwork has a devoted following. But the heart of the dance is in the neighborhoods, derived from Juke and shaped by youth over decades. In keeping tradition alive, The Era teaches with Open the Circle, a nonprofit that provides a safe place for kids to delve into entrepreneurship and social justice through the framework of Footwork culture: dance performance, DJing and filmmaking. More than twenty years old, Chicago Footwork saving lives and nurturing a new generation of artists. (Sharon Hoyer)
Best first for film criticism other than Roger Ebert
Jack Lawson
Chicago is a legendary city for cinephiles, one notable achievement being the first Pulitzer Prize awarded to a film critic, to the Chicago Sun-Times’ Roger Ebert in 1975. But our bragging rights go back beyond that; in 1914, the Chicago Tribune hired the nation’s first full-time staff film critic on a major newspaper. Jack Lawson’s reviews have never been collected and aren’t accessible online, yet the conversation he started is still going strong. (Robert Rodi)
CULTURE & NIGHTLIFE
Best saved cultural archive
The Johnson Publishing archive acquisition by the Smithsonian
Institutions are often on the wrong side of history. A recent ArtNews survey found that in the past decade, only twenty-eight percent of solo exhibitions were devoted to nonwhite artists, with black artists making up less than eleven percent of that number. So it was a pleasant surprise this summer when four foundations quickly came together to acquire Chicago’s legendary Johnson Publishing photo archive, in order to donate the works to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture and other institutions. Chicagoans can rest easy knowing that this crucial documentation of African-American life, which includes Ebony and Jet, will be preserved. (Kerry Cardoza)
Best theater for legroom
The Royal George
It’s worth noting that I consulted with long-legged folks who agree with me on this, because as a relatively short person, my concept of space is a little off. The Royal George Theatre may not be a looker, but oh boy, does it have the best legroom of any theater in Chicago. Not only do you not have to move at all if folks are walking through the aisle (unheard of!), but you can even stretch your legs without kicking the person in front of you. There is ample space to move without disturbing your neighbors during a show and put your drink or water bottle or oversized backpack in front of you without invading space. If theater seating were classified like airline seats, The Royal George’s legroom would definitely be an upgrade charge. (Amanda Finn)
1641 N. Halsted, 312.988.9000
Best itinerant museum
The Floating Museum
Run by Chicago cultural workers Avery R. Young, Andrew Schachman, Faheem Majeed and Jeremiah Hulsebos-Spofford, the Floating Museum brings art to neighborhoods around the city. Their projects are hard to miss. They docked a barge-turned-gallery along the Chicago River in 2017. Their recent “Founders” project, a twenty-five-foot-tall, thirty-five-foot-wide inflatable sculpture, was installed at public parks near CTA Green Line stops this summer. The museum’s ethos—that folks don’t have to travel to experience Chicago’s creativity, that each neighborhood deserves to enjoy art and be inspired, and that public space can be used communally and sustainably—is one wholly worth celebrating. (Kerry Cardoza)
Floatingmuseum.org
Best classic dive bar that’s not really a dive bar
Best Intentions
Best Intentions is your regular watering hole—at first glance. But walking into a space that smells like gourmet pub eats and challenges patrons to make a choice between a diverse beer list and craft cocktails will prove otherwise. There’s always shots of Angostura bitters or their famed minty Wondermint Malted shake that, weather permitting, you can imbibe on the patio. And it calls itself “a fancy cocktail bar,” which may or may not be ironic in intent. (Vasia Rigou)
3281 W. Armitage, 312.818.1254, bestintentionschicago.com
Best theater dedicated to mental health
Erasing the Distance
Erasing the Distance, founded in 2005, collects true stories from people affected by mental health issues, and brings them to life on stage. After every performance, a moderated dialogue between cast and audience explores themes in the play and, when appropriate, identifies mental illness symptoms, signs, resources and recovery options. (Tanner Woodford)
erasingthedistance.org
Best tape label
Not Normal Tapes
Now in its eleventh year, Not Normal boasts more than sixty releases, and has become the de facto documenter of Midwest punk. It’s put out everything from the fiery hardcore of Sin Orden to the raw proto-punk of CB Radio Gorgeous. The DIY hardcore punk label deals primarily in tapes, although it has also ventured into vinyl and zines, and their catalog can now be streamed on Bandcamp. (Kerry Cardoza)
notnormaltapes.bandcamp.com
Best new industrial label
Chicago Research
Chicago Research is the latest in a long line of meaningful independent Chicago labels. (Think Wax Trax, Touch and Go.) Formed earlier this year, the label focuses on heavy, industrial sounds, from newish bands like Civic Center to local punk veterans Bruised. And it isn’t wasting any time: it’s already dropped fifteen releases and, in September, launched a biweekly online radio show. The simple, gothic graphic design of the record covers and the limited number of physical copies make these releases hot to cop; many are already sold out. (Kerry Cardoza)
chicagoresearch.bandcamp.com
Best attempt to save street art from graffiti blasters
Chicago Mural Registry
Chicago’s street art game is strong. After multiple high-profile incidents in which city-sanctioned Graffiti Blasters unwittingly removed work by prominent artists, the mural registry was born. Maintained by the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, the catalog lists public artwork, provides a searchable map, and most importantly, serves as a guide for artwork that should be protected from destruction. It’s a start! (Tanner Woodford)
chicago.gov/city/en/depts/dca/supp_info/mural_registry.html
Best 1990s Wicker Park ghost sign
The unmolested carnie paintings behind former Earwax Café
Wicker Park in the 1990s, they had names right in the middle of that place, right? Urbus Orbis, the Quaker Goes Deaf, Bombardier Café, Earwax Café… to half-remember a few. Are fragrant traces left behind the bright store windows of destination brands, with surplus-value products at nosebleed prices to satisfy distant investors? Not much. Take a jackleg off North Avenue directly south of where Urbus Orbis once sat, in the alley just east of the Flatiron building, and you’ll get a teensy glimpse of something you absolutely must gander that’s inexplicably still: in a vest-pocket parking lot behind what had been Earwax Café for the last of its twenty-one years, atop what had been the site of so, so many conspiracies, confusions, connivances and curious eavesdropping, the vegan mainstay’s leafy patio, faux carnival paintings rest, unmolested after eight years, an entire “royal family of strange people” including the mysterious “Tirko” and “Fee Jee” and the Monkey Boy. (Ray Pride)
Alley behind 1561 N. Milwaukee
Best non-book at the Newberry Library
Fifteenth-Century Wooden Box, Featuring Mary
The Newberry Library is a privately funded independent research library focused on the humanities. Within its collection of more than 1.5 million books, five million manuscript pages, and 500,000 historic maps resides a fifteenth-century wooden box with metal fillings. It was originally designed to be carried on horse- or mule-back to hold books or religious objects. Under the lid is a woodcut print of Mary in her aspect as Virgin of the Rosary. (Tanner Woodford)
60 W. Walton, Newberry.org
Best gathering of typography nerds
Typeforce at Co-Prosperity Sphere
Every winter for the past decade, thousands of typography nerds descend upon the Co-Prosperity Sphere in Bridgeport. Typeforce is curated by Firebelly’s Dawn Hancock and Ed Marszewski (Marz Community Brewing, Maria’s Packaged Goods and Community Bar, Lumpen) with a mission to showcase artists who make magic with letters in any medium. Admission is free. (Tanner Woodford)
typeforce.com/8/
Best tyrannosaurus rex on Twitter
@SUEtheTrex
Clocking in at sixty-seven-million years old and with over 56,000 followers on Twitter, Sue the T. rex is a hilarious, pun-loving dinosaur. What’s more impressive—having 250 of approximately 380 bones, or getting into a random feud with Merriam-Webster? You can find out by visiting Specimen FMNH PR 2081 at The Field Museum and then following @SUEtheTrex on Twitter. (Tanner Woodford)
Best (and oldest) telescope in America
Adler Planetarium
Made in the final years of Galileo’s life, circa 1640, the oldest telescope in America is located in the scientific instruments collection at the Adler Planetarium. Made from pasteboard, leather and glass, the first-generation object is one of only twenty surviving telescopes known or presumed to be made before 1650. It harkens to a moment when the simple optical instrument was only beginning to revolutionize our view of the Universe. (Tanner Woodford)
1300 S. Lake Shore, adlerplanetarium.org
Best antiquities museum
University of Chicago Oriental Institute
The Field Museum’s Ancient Egypt exhibit is deservedly a crowd-pleaser; but for hardcore antiquarians, the must-see museum is seven miles due south. The Oriental Institute—established in 1919—displays some five-thousand artifacts (from a collection seventy times that size) spanning ten-thousand years of bygone history, comprising not only Egypt but Mesopotamia, Sumeria, Persia and every other early Middle Eastern mega-state. Highlights include a colossal bull’s head from an entrance hall in ancient Persepolis, a lamassu (a bearded Persian centaur) from the palace of Sargon II and a towering Tutankhamen, everybody’s favorite pharaoh. (Robert Rodi)
1155 E. 58th, oi100.uchicago.edu
Best hidden architectural gem that’s also a gallery
Wrightwood 659
If you’re a first-time visitor you might just walk past this space. World-renowned Japanese architect Tadao Ando designed the gallery space dedicated to exhibitions of architecture and socially engaged art within a four-story 1929-1930 apartment building that looks much the same as when it was built, and hidden in plain sight in the Lincoln Park neighborhood. But step inside and you find yourself in an atrium that rises thirty-seven feet high and features exposed brick walls, sleek concrete surfaces and a ton of natural light—and that’s just the ground floor. (Vasia Rigou)
659 W. Wrightwood, 773.437.6601, wrightwood659.org
Best post-gallery drinks in a not-so-artsy neighborhood
Burwood Tap
So you’ve just visited the spectacular new Wrightwood 659 art and architecture space in the Lincoln Park neighborhood and you need time to take it all in? Just across the street is Burwood Tap. The bar has seen monumental neighborhood evolution in its eighty-six years, knows its music, has walls dripping with Chicago memorabilia, a pool table and ice-cold beer. Who could ask for anything more? (Except maybe a popcorn maker that doesn’t stop popping.) (Vasia Rigou)
Burwood Tap, 724 W. Wrightwood, 773.525.2593, burwoodtap.com
Best real-life story to offer inspiration
Virgil Abloh: “Figures of Speech,” Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago
The much-anticipated exhibition of the work of the Louis Vuitton Men’s artistic director, whose influence and creativity rises beyond media, merging visual arts, music, fashion, graphic design and architecture, covered a lot of ground. Namely, the past twenty years of Virgil Abloh’s work—from his IIT days, to his Fendi internship, to his collaboration with Kanye West, to founding Off-White, the first luxury fashion brand designed and owned by an African American. But there’s one thing he’s more passionate about: inspiring creators from the next generation. The vibe of this exhibition leaves you with the vision that if this kid from Rockford made it, so can you and you better start working on it. (Vasia Rigou)
220 E. Chicago, mcachicago.org
Best Lincoln Park Zoo experience for adults
BrewLights
Is there a better way to get into the holiday spirit than sipping beer while strolling under Christmas lights during the nighttime? Lincoln Park Zoo’s fifth annual BrewLights, presented by the Auxiliary Board of Lincoln Park Zoo and Louis Glunz Beer, Inc.—an over-21 only event during ZooLights—sorts out the logistics. All you have to do is dress warm and get out of the house to taste local craft, seasonal and international beers, take photos with Santa for your Instagram feed and ride on the Endangered Species carousel. (Vasia Rigou)
ZooLights, December 6, 2001 N. Clark, lpzoo.org
Best arcade bar
Replay Lakeview
If you’re looking for a classic boozer within an arcade room (or vice versa), this Lakeview bar with vintage pinball and arcade machines is for you. Play the night away in between beer on tap, bourbon and cocktails, keep an eye out for their regularly scheduled themed pop-ups. The best part? Play is free! (Vasia Rigou)
3439 N. Halsted, replaylakeview.com
Best live sound
Lincoln Hall
It may not have the well-trod, L-shaped allure of The Bottle or the cool factor of Thalia Hall or even the dank cultural credibility of our city’s dizziest dive bars, but what Lincoln Park’s Lincoln Hall has going for it is sound. Near silent when empty, void of street noise or even the clank and clatter of glassware from the bar and restaurant in the front half of the building, Lincoln Hall is the place to go when you really want to hear your favorite band. Or that group you loved in high school. Or an artist you’ve never heard before. Whether they’re on their way up or on their way down, they won’t sound better anywhere else. (Kevin Greene)
2424 N. Lincoln, 773.525.2501, lh-st.com
Best ironically situated art show
“Wesley Willis: City of Many Dreams”
The ironies resound and redound and confound seeing even a fraction of a decade of Wesley Willis’ early work in a newly forged gallery space in the general vicinity of where he wandered while he whupped Batman’s ass but before death whupped his. “Wesley Willis: City of Many Dreams,” at Matthew Rachman Gallery in the western front of galleries on Chicago Avenue west of Ashland, displayed a collection of drawings the late musician-artist-scenester-singular figure made from 1981-1991, when Willis grew from eighteen to twenty-eight. (He was forty years old when he passed.) Drawing on the collection and archives of architect Paul Young, one of Willis’ earliest supporters and collectors, who met him by chance on the streets of Chinatown, the show captures the vitality of Willis’ intuition as a man with an obsessive eye for the collision of geometry of the man-made city; the giddy but non-ironic absurdism in the lyrics he howled as a post-punk musician are another facet of how the world would not settle in his mind. In his youth, Willis worked as a street artist, carrying a folding chair and sheets of board to capture his vistas or his subways: taking his pens and staring down a skyline or platform or the Dan Ryan as far as you can see. The tumult that prompted Willis’ creativity was stilled, of course, by death, but is damped, too, within genteel surroundings. You can’t contain Wesley: Willis towered. (Ray Pride)
Matthew Rachman Gallery, 1659 W. Chicago, 773.245.3182. Through November 17
Best lakefront transplant trapeze school
Trapeze School New York
It ain’t Cirque du Soleil but then when was the last time you set up for a family barbecue under the big top? Also: it’s free to watch. Trapeze School New York sets up just south of Foster Beach during the summer on the recently renovated Lake Shore Trail and provides insight into the day-to-day realities of running away to join the circus. The school offers classes in flying and static trapeze work, silks and rope, lyra and trampoline. They also operate a year-round facility at Broadway Armory Park in Edgewater. Follow the stairs (or the signs for Jackalope Theatre) to the balcony for a spectacular and gut-flipping view of acts that will make you feel every minute of your age. (Kevin Greene)
5200 N. Lake Shore and 5917 N. Broadway, 773.484.8861
Best outdoor amphitheater that isn’t the Pritzker Pavilion
Huntington Bank Pavilion
After working at this Live Nation-owned venue for three years, I felt Twilight Zoned every time I’d tell someone where I spent my summer evenings and get blank stares in return. It’s as if when the city bulldozed Meigs Field, they also summoned some kind of incantation that affected the perceptions of locals and weekenders alike, shielding from their eyes the significant peninsula known as Northerly Island. Granted, the programing at the venue doesn’t help much. The dwindling yet resilient fandoms one-to-three-hit-wonder bands from the nineties compete with limited calendar real estate with the occasional hippie mega-act (the venue hosted three nights of Phish in 2017), ascendant hip-hop and pop crossovers passed over by Lolla and “I can’t believe these guys are even still alive” boomer throwback tours. The venue occasionally strikes gold as when they secured a spot on Vampire Weekend’s most recent tour. In any case, the bands are prelude to the awesome view of the sun setting behind the downtown skyline while crickets and cicadas play choir to the booms and ah’s of fireworks off Navy Pier. (Kevin Greene)
1300 S. Linn White, 708.614.0283
Best resurfaced 1970s Chicago-shot black detective TV movie
“Cutter”
The streets of Chicago are almost without profile in movies or television for certain years under the gimlet eye of the elder Mayor Daley. The short list of artifacts grew by one in September, when a seventy-four-minute TV movie broadcast in January 1972 materialized on YouTube, starring actor-playwright-producer-director Peter De Anda as “Cutter,” a black private detective. With lots of cocktails with a sprinkling of cocktail jazz, driving a compact white Mercedes, Cutter likes to hand over his card with a curt “Frank Cutter. Investigator. Private.” No office? “No office. Just the phone number. Keeps life simple… and safer.” A gratifying amount of location work shows up in Cutter’s pursuit of a missing quarterback. The character who sets Cutter on his quest passes the Wrigley Building against the night sky in the first shots and then under the chaser lights of the Chicago Theatre—ALL SEATS $1.00 TIL 12 NOON—where the movie “Kotch” sets the location work in September 1971. Rushing past branded storefronts, the man skips to Lake Street and up the stairs to the El to a safe payphone to call Cutter. Cutter’s with a woman. As he ends the call, a woman brings him a cocktail. “Problem?” “Maybe.” She asks something about his reaction. “It’s how I do business.” “Why don’t you bring your business over here?” Two white men bust in; the one with the Gabe Kaplan mustache is incensed. “Husband?” Cutter deadpans. Shenanigans! Also: The Drake neon by night; Marina City casually center-framed seen from a skyscraper window; the domed pool at 400 East Wacker hosting a swimsuit photoshoot, where the view from its balcony provides an almost unobstructed view of the John Hancock, making 1971 look like a pretty cow town. A mansion at the northeast corner of Erie and Wabash is the site of a wealthy man warbling about “the ideals of the free-enterprise system… The point here is not that one family has amassed what some might call a fortune… no, the point here is all the people of Chicago have benefitted by Chicago’s vitality.” Two further, almost vital setpieces: a clandestine meeting in a dusty industrial area that could be straight out of early Antonioni and a racketing lower Wacker Drive between chase scenes with two boxy ambulances. “Cutter” tickles, mostly because it doesn’t exist. Or didn’t, until this purloined, splotchy 16mm print was uploaded. (Ray Pride)
youtube.com/watch?v=HxdS0lXdvM8
Best holiday movie repertory tradition
Music Box Christmas Double Feature
Ahh, the Music Box Theatre: the gem of Southport Avenue. The only place where you can find art-house films, midnight screenings of “The Room,” classics in 70mm, and—a surefire way of bringing holiday cheer to every Grinch—a double-bill screening of “White Christmas” and “It’s a Wonderful Life” every holiday season, now in its thirty-sixth incantation. The experience is even more magical with the pre-show Christmas sing-along, led by an exceedingly merry crew of carolers, and it culminates with Santa Claus himself joining the proceedings, Okay, maybe not actually Santa Claus, but I can dream. It’s a tradition I look forward to every year, especially the audience hisssssssing at Mean Old Mr. Potter in “Wonderful Life.” Atta boy, Chicago. (Ben Kaye)
3733 N. Southport, December 12-24
Best Chicago film proffering a swift fuck-you to Trump
“Rendezvous in Chicago”
Local filmmaker Michael Smith’s modestly scaled, modest-length third feature debuted at Siskel earlier this year, and ends with a shot, a fragment, really, a few frames so brief it hardly earns status as a shot, that comprise a fourth episode in a Rohmer-style roundelay of romantic foolishness: after brief credits, we glimpse the bland, blunt façade from across the Chicago River of Trump Tower and a hand blots the frame, rigid middle finger effacing its obscenity. (Ray Pride)
Best Chicago-area rock band that has been around for fifty-five years
The Ides of March
“I’m a friendly stranger in the black sedan, won’t you hop inside my car” opens one of rock ‘n’ roll’s greatest songs—”Vehicle,” by Berwyn’s The Ides of March. Fronted by the sort of horns that made Blood, Sweat and Tears famous six years later—a big beat, soulful vocals and a legendary guitar solo—the song reached number two in the Billboard charts on May 23, 1970. Amazingly, the critical four members who formed the band (as the Shon-Dels) in 1964—Mike Borch, Larry Millas, Bob Bergland and Jim Peterik (who also wrote or co-wrote “Eye of the Tiger” and other hit songs over the years)—are still rocking the house and festivals with live performances and a new album, “Play On.” (Bart Lazar)
theidesofmarch.com
Best band that plays only a thirty-minute set
Negative Scanner
Some bands take thirty minutes to warm up. Negative Scanner goes from zero-to-sixty in thirty seconds or less, and keeps the tension and energy taut for the entire performance. Driving assertive and intersecting guitars and vocals just short of howling (reference Siouxsie and the Banshees and Sex Pistols) take you to the edge of frenzy with changes of pace but no change-up pitch. Always left wanting more. (Bart Lazar)
Negativescanner.bandcamp.com
Best place to watch a legendary Chicago blues musician for free
Lagunitas Taproom
Walking into the Lagunitas Taproom on a Sunday afternoon, you would not expect to hear one of the world’s greatest blues musicians. Yet, there’s living legend Jimmy Johnson, who has seen it all in his ninety-one-plus years, who headlines the Chicago Blues Festival and could sell out any blues club in the world, holding court on the small side stage battling the conversation of beer tourists. Born in Mississippi, he moved to Chicago in 1950 and worked with or learned from everyone from Albert King to Buddy Guy, and he’s a link to what made Chicago the global capital of the blues—and you can see him for free. Just sit close to the stage. (Bart Lazar)
2607 W. 17th, lagunitas.com/taproom/chicago, 4:20pm most Sundays
Best gallery on a telephone pole
Western Pole
Artistic trickster Jesse Malmed launched Western Pole in 2015, a “platformist space,” where he invites artists to create an 8.5-inch-by-eleven-inch work to display on a telephone pole along Western Avenue. Over a hundred artists have contributed, most riffing off the format: mock (and mocking) advertisements, absurdist event announcements, political declarations and bursts of poetry. The current pole is at 2201 South Western. The gallery’s always open and it’s worth a walk-by. (Kerry Cardoza)
Best new queer-centric variety show
Enigma
At a corner bar in Andersonville every other Sunday, the best new variety show in the city kicks up its heels. Enigma, a celebration of performance art and creativity in all forms, is the brainchild of Javi Aya, Tinson Nhon and Hedilio Martinez. They have cultivated an inclusive space that uplifts Chicago’s creatives without competition. They understand that to be a safe space should offer support, and a loving environment that fosters expression and honesty. “Competitions absolutely have their place, but we wanted our show to focus on community-building, being a safe space for newer artists, and allowing more seasoned performers to do performances they normally can’t do at other events and venues,” says Aya. “We all laugh, cry, and scream together at every show, so come spiral with us and celebrate your inner Enigma!” (Kaycie Surrell)
Meeting House Tavern, 5025 N. Clark, facebook.com/enigmasundays
Best “feel good” bangers to get you through the impending winter
“I Only Leave My House to Dance With You”
It’s a safe bet we’ll all rely on Lizzo’s “Truth Hurts” and its exuberant positivity to get us through Chicago’s sweaty, crowded, miserable winter public transit commutes. But for a Lizzo break and to get the blood pumping in your frosty heart, try “Holy Roller” by CYN. Looking for a song by someone who just gets it? “I Only Leave My House to Dance With You” by Chicago-based artist Sports Boyfriend: it’s right there in the name. (Kaycie Surrell)
Best graffiti on a place you have no idea what it is
Cards Against Humanity Theater
On the corner of Elston and Homer in Bucktown stands a building the walls of which display a surprisingly intact mishmash of paintings by some of the city’s most notable graffiti artists, including Blake Jones, Matthew Hoffman of You Are Beautiful, Shawn Smith of Shawnimals and Keith Smith (aka Afrokilla). There’s a large mural by Tara McPherson, a painter from New York. One has to wonder what happens behind those walls, since the only visible sign displays random phrases, updated every Monday. Recently, it was “Got my 23 and Me test results. Turns out… I’m a hundred percent a sign.” To make matters worse, no one answers the intercom. Welcome to the Cards Against Humanity Theater. Created by a bunch of high school friends from Highland Park via Kickstarter, Cards Against Humanity became the best-selling game on Amazon only a month after its May 2011 release. Max Temkin—one of the original says that his team wanted to provide a free space for comedians and artists to perform. “We’ve hosted public forums, an aldermanic debate and an attorney general debate, fundraisers for various groups and elected officials, comedy shows, lectures, classes and more,” he says. As for the murals, they are protected by law. After having a mural by French street artist Blek le Rat, aka “the father of stencil graffiti,” erased from their building by the city of Chicago, Temkin and his colleagues worked with alderman Brian Hopkins to pass an ordinance protecting street art. Murals can now be registered with DCASE and identified by a special number and a QR code. So if that intercom isn’t answered, visitors are at least guaranteed to enjoy the art. (Isa Giallorenzo)
1917 N. Elston, 773.252.3244, public events listed at Chicago.CardsAgainstHumanity.com
Best new music festival
Midwinter
Our city is a prime destination for summer music festivals, but it took Pitchfork and the Art Institute to amplify Chicago out of its February doldrums by creating Midwinter in 2019. The Modern Wing’s Griffin Court revealed itself to be a bright, airy, multidimensional sounding hall suited for Deerhunter’s shimmering indie-pop, while Chicagoan Haley Fohr of Circuit des Yeux turned a landing over the main staircase into a dramatic forum for a sacred solo-chanting processional. The main auditorium worked, of all things, as an auditorium. Best of all, the AIC kept the galleries open, so you could catch the greatest hits of art, too. (Bart Lazar)
midwinter.pitchfork.com/experience
Best most-ubiquitous Chicago musicians
Ken Vandermark and Jon Langford
“Ubiquitous” is not a slight, but an honor to bestow upon avant-jazz reedist Ken Vandermark, and cowpunk guitarist and vocalist Jon Langford. These musician-composers are at the top of their multiple musical genres, and experiment widely with other bands and combinations of their artistic prism. Vandermark plays improvisations and compositions ranging from hard bop to the edge of atonal, on his own, with DKV Trio, Marker, Cinghiale, and visiting jazz royalty from elsewhere. Langford, who escaped from Wales for Chicago, convenes the Mekons from around the world every other year or so for the punky-America side, the Waco Brothers for hard country, as well as Four Lost Souls, Skull Orchard and many more iterations. Don’t go through next year without watching them perform more than once, or perhaps you will perform with them? (Bart Lazar)
Best semi-monthly, under-the-radar, cabaret-esque performance you stumbled into
Mr. Tom Musick at Weegee’s Lounge
You thought you were just starting the weekend early with a strong drink at the off-the-path corner bar in greater Logan Square. Little did you know this was just the right Thursday—a first or third—to stumble into the Church of Downward Transcendence. Leave it to the bar that has been making classic cocktails for years before the trend to perfect the recipe for the sacrament: one part virtuosic arranging and piano accompaniment by Mucca Pazza alum Ronnie Kuller; one part Tom Musick at the end of the bar, in black suit and white shirt, pouring his soul into a microphone and a mystery potion in his stemmed glass; add a dash of foot-pedal-controlled spotlight and you have the most intoxicating brew that will, over the lilt of a waltz or raised eyebrow of a tango, flash before your eyes every heartbreak, every lost dream, every unconsummated lust—universes imagined and lost on a barstool. Tom and Ronnie’s semi-monthly cabaret-inspired performance is a Chicago gem; Tom’s lyrics have the wit—we do not exaggerate—of Cole Porter, his delivery the rasp of Tom Waits and the exquisite pain of Billie Holiday. All for the pass of a well-worn hat. (Sharon Hoyer)
3659 W. Armitage, 773.384.0707
Best organization fostering the next generation of artists
Chicago Artists Coalition
CAC works tirelessly to assist local artists with professional development, from artist and curator residency programs to grants and practical, real-world advice workshops. The inclusion each year of multiple CAC alums in Newcity’s Breakout Artists issue is proof positive that the organization’s work pays off. (Kerry Cardoza)
2130 W. Fulton, chicagoartistscoalition.org
Best weekly free show for almost two decades
The Hoyle Brothers and the Honky Tonk Happy Hour at the Empty Bottle
The iconic dive earns its slogan with this longstanding, under-the-radar tradition. The Hoyles have cranked out the tightest two sets of classic country swing on the third coast every Friday at 5:30pm since the turn of this century. Think Bob Wills, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, sung by golden-throated Irish frontman Myles McVeigh. The crowd: regulars who have attended for anywhere from six months to sixteen years, tradesmen throwing one back at the end of the week, multigenerational two-step and swingers who crowd the dance floor by the second set, fans and members of the prime-time band taking in the early scene, pedal steel guitar devotees who hang downstage right, studying the wizardry of Brian Wilkie. The unpretentious setting, the relaxed crowd, the stellar band, the tried-and-true tunes, that golden hour between the work week and overindulgence: Honky Tonk Happy Hour is Music Friendly Dancing. (Sharon Hoyer)
Empty Bottle, 1035 N. Western, 773.276.3600, emptybottle.com
Best melding of older jazz and younger local talent
Jazz Record Art Collective
The Jazz Record Art Collective is a ten-dollar, cash-only time machine, transporting jazz fans to the moment of creation of classic music of the century past. Chris Anderson has curated this ongoing sonic museum since 2013 in a cavernous loft on the Near West Side, arranging performances, largely with local talent, of vintage jazz records famous and less so, ranging from Coltrane and Cannonball Adderley to Dinah Washington and Sarah Vaughan. “Our goal is to provide a platform to breathe life back to albums that may have been forgotten,” says Anderson, who formerly managed The Green Mill. There are shows Wednesday nights two or four times a month in the gallery of the Fulton Street Collective, an arts incubator space with twenty artist studios. One of the artists is on hand during performances, sketching musicians and creating souvenirs for sale. The record re-enactments —which feature both the original music and background information on the musicians—are more than just another jazz event: They’re an intimate, multisensory educational experience. (Hugh Iglarsh)
1821 West Hubbard, 773.852.2481, jazzrecordartcollective.com
Best new clothing label
Vihanga
Started by SAIC alums Miles Jackson and Vihanga Sontam in 2018, Vihanga expertly handcrafts each garment in their line. Think loose-fitting, agender separates, mostly in earth tones, and on gorgeous cotton sourced from India. It’s new age meets art school athleisure. “Their design decisions are content-driven, made up of anecdotes, childhood memories, and radical understandings,” they write on their site. “Every detail is an extension of personal study. Every collection, installation, dance project, and party builds their community from the inside out.” Their fall-winter collection was released in September—but don’t sleep, if their first drop was any indication, these items are likely to sell out. (Kerry Cardoza)
vihanga.co
Best national tribute to Milos Stehlik so far
The Telluride Film Festival Milos Stehlik Scholar Award
Facets Multimedia’s co-founder Milos Stehlik will be remembered by many initiatives in Chicago, but the Telluride Film Festival, of which he was a former board president, will be honored by TFF with a scholarship for one student “who embodies Milos’ passion and humanist heart” to attend the influential, high-end and highly exclusive event. (Ray Pride)
Best new literary salon
Outlines at the Hoxton Chicago
Launched in September, this series brings together thinkers from diverse fields to iterate on a specific theme. Organized by writer Britt Julious, known for her keen taste and expansive cultural knowledge, the series is sure to be a hit. (Kerry Cardoza)
thehoxton.com/hoxtown/events/outlines-a-literary-salon-with-britt-julious
Best place to be during the Air and Water Show
Anywhere Else
You could head west toward California. (As in the state.) Or North and apply for Canadian citizenship. You may have to head pretty far south to escape the jingoistic patriotism that spurs Chicago’s annual auditory assault known as the Air and Water Show. A display seemingly designed to induce PTSD in veterans, howling fantods in dogs and “Am I having a panic attack? I think I’m having a panic attack!” moments in people who’ve never had a panic attack before, all during what is normally one of the finest weekends of weather in our all too brief summer season. Certain single-occupancy bathrooms in Merchandise Mart may also suffice if you don’t have an underground shelter at your disposal. And on the chance you’re into these kind of nationalistic military spectacles: I hear Aleppo is nice this time of year. (Kevin Greene)
