BULLETIN
A Pie In The Sky: A VIP Bake Sale
Absolutely Anything Essential Gift Shop, 3521 S. King Dr. Saturday, November 26, 9am–3pm. VIP breakfast 9am–10am, four hour-long unlimited tasting sessions starting 10am. $20 for VIP breakfast and one tasting session, $15 for one tasting session. (773) 406-7663. bit.ly/pie-in-the-sky
How many desserts can you eat in an hour? Taste cakes, pies, doughnuts, and more from local dessert masters at this exclusive bake sale event. Find your new favorite treat and place your holiday orders while benefitting the FAM Entertainment Theater Company, which empowers young women and girls through the creative arts. (Emily Lipstein)
Shop Small Business Saturday in Bronzeville
Absolutely Anything Essential Gift Shop, 3521 S. King Dr. Saturday, November 26, 9am–6pm. Free entry. (773) 406-7663. absolutelyanythingessential.com
Love thy small businesses as you do your big-box stores. Indulge in a post-Black Friday shopping spree at the Absolutely Anything Essential Gift Shop to support a group of local, small business pop-up vendors. There will also be raffles to win and crafting tables for making to supplement your buying. (Jonathan Hogeback)
Chicago Latino Chess Championship
Rudy Lozano Branch, Chicago Public Library, 1805 S. Loomis St. Saturday, November 26, 9:15am–4pm. Free. (312) 746-4329. bit.ly/chi-latino-chess
It’s a battle of wits for all age levels at the Lozano Branch of the Chicago Public Library for the 24th Chicago Latino Chess Championship. Join the one hundred contestants as they compete for top-score and checkmate in both Open and Junior divisions, and explore a little of Pilsen while you’re in the neighborhood. (Jonathan Hogeback)
America’s #1 Problem: Low Wages
Overflow Coffee Bar, 1550 S. State St. Tuesday, November 29, 6:15pm–8:15pm. Free. Register online. (312) 450-2906. hgchicago.org
The Henry George School of Chicago—a nationwide organization focused on educating people about political economy—will take a stab at the twin questions of why, since the 1970s, wages have not risen as quickly as productivity, and what can be done to solve this problem. (Christian Belanger)
Bronzeville SOUP
Bronzeville Incubator, 300 E. 51st St. Saturday, December 3, 4pm–7pm. $5 donation for soup, salad, bread, and a vote. Register online. (773) 285-5002. thebronzevilleincubator.com
At Bronzeville SOUP—an idea transplanted from Detroit—attendees donate five dollars at the door for a meal (bread, salad, and, shockingly, soup), and local entrepreneurs working on community projects present a set of pitches. After the pitches are finished, diners vote for their favorite: the winner gets the pot of cash at the door. (Christian Belanger)
VISUAL ARTS
Panel Discussion: Lauren Ash, Stephen Flemister, and Yaw Agyeman
UofC Center for the Study of Race, Politics, and Culture, 5733 S. University Ave., community room. Monday, November 28, 6pm–7pm. Free. RSVP online. (773) 702-8063. csrpc.uchicago.edu
Meet the newest artists-in-residence at the UofC’s Center for the Study of Race, Politics, and Culture—Lauren Ash of lifestyle brand Black Girl In Om, interdisciplinary artist Stephen Flemister, and theatrical and musical performer Yaw Agyeman (known as YAW). (Hafsa Razi)
Mercado Navideño (Christmas Market)
National Museum of Mexican Art, 1852 W. 19th St. Friday, November 25 through Sunday, November 27, 10am–4pm. Free. (312) 738-1503. nationalmuseumofmexicanart.org
After you finish packing away the leftover turkey, stop by the National Museum of Mexican Art’s holiday market. Vendors selling everything from tree ornaments to t-shirts are setting up shop to start the season right. (Corinne Butta)
BIG Small Works
Elephant Room Gallery Bridgeport, 2727 S. Mary St. Through January 7, by appointment. (312) 361-0281. elephantroomgallery.com
Join artists Hannah Lin, Steve Tritt, Raul Ortiz, and more in this special holiday exhibition at Elephant Room Gallery’s Bridgeport outpost. All works are 30×30” or under—a perfect size, the press release says, for a present. (Corinne Butta)
Bunraku-Style Puppetry Workshop
High Concept Labs at MANA Contemporary, 2233 S. Throop St. Wednesday, December 14, 7pm–9:30pm. $15, materials included. (312) 850-0555. highconceptlaboratories.org
Puppet designer Tom Lee will lead a workshop on the process of making and manipulating puppets. Lee’s work incorporates projection, shadow, and other aspects of set design. Hands-on experience and a new perspective towards puppetry are to be expected from this workshop. (Sicely Li)
MUSIC
Conor Oberst
Thalia Hall, 1807 S. Allport St. Sunday, November 27, doors 7pm, show 8pm. $40. 17+. (312) 526-3851. thaliahallchicago.com
Known to countless twenty-somethings as the folk singer who brought emo into the mandolin-picking mainstream, Conor Oberst is at it again with a Thalia Hall show in promotion of his new album Ruminations. Opener MiWi La Lupa shares with Oberst a ruminative mindset and instrumentation steeped in Americana. (Neal Jochmann)
Terry Jazz Night
Punch House, 1227 W. 18th St. Tuesday, November 29, 9pm–2am. Free. 21+. (312) 526-3851. punchhousechicago.com
To those prone to deep digging for music online, internet radio station Terry Radio might already be a known quantity, if also infinitely unknowable: segments like “TSA Lounge with the Baggage Boys” tend to both baffle the mind and mystify the ears. Now they’re bringing their jazz selections to Punch House, for a night that’s sure to do the same in person. (Austin Brown)
Alternate Flow, Ex Okays, and More
Reggies Record Breakers, 2105 S. State St. Saturday, November 26, 6pm. Free. All ages. (312) 949-0120. reggieslive.com
Chicago garage rockers swing through the Reggies record store this Saturday to rock the house and bring some of their raw power to the venue. It’s more punky and less kvlt than the usual Reggies rock group, but no matter—it’ll rattle the walls regardless. (Austin Brown)
Chosen Few DJs Present Sauers Reunion
The Promontory, 5311 S. Lake Park Ave. Thursday, November 24, 8pm. $10 adv. 21+. (312) 801-2100. promontorychicago.com
Decades ago, in the early years of Chicago house, a restaurant on 23rd Street called Sauer’s used to be converted in the late night to a dance hall for massive house parties. Now Chicago house vets The Chosen Few are organizing a reunion party at the Promontory this Thanksgiving, out of gratitude for a tradition Frankie Knuckles began. (Austin Brown)
STAGE & SCREEN
Daughters of the Dust
Gene Siskel Film Center, 164 N. State St. Friday, November 25–Thursday, December 1, various times, except Tuesday, November 29. $11, $6 for members. (312) 846-2800. siskelfilmcenter.org
The first film directed by an African-American woman to receive theatrical distribution in the U.S. debuted just twenty-five years ago. This may be a rather dishearteningly short time span, but with it comes heartening news: for its twenty-fifth anniversary, this film of “spellbinding visual beauty” has received a full restoration, now stopping in Chicago. (Julia Aizuss)
In the Game
Kartemquin Films. Friday, November 25, 5pm–Thursday, December 1. Free. kartemquin.com
Though just a year old, this documentary about the girls’ soccer team at Kelly High School in Brighton Park may already have many Chicago fans after being part of CPL’s One Book, One Chicago programming last year. If you didn’t catch it then, make some time for it during this week’s round in Kartemquin’s fiftieth anniversary screening series. (Julia Aizuss)
Mordine & Co. in the Parks: COLLISIONS
Washington Park, 5531 S. Martin Luther King Dr. Thursday, December 1, 7pm. Free. (847) 687-3782. mordine.org
Since this is a contemporary dance company we’re talking about, Mordine & Company Dance Theater’s “COLLISIONS” might even be literal; if you make it to Mordine’s last public park performance this fall, you’ll find out exactly how the project choregraphs “ideas of immediate impact: tensions between generations, cultures, and climatic changes.” (Julia Aizuss)
RE/NIGHT/LIVE/MARE: Parts 4&1
ACRE TV. Part 4: Tuesday, November 22–Monday, November 28; Part 1: Tuesday, November 29–Monday, December 5. acretv.org
ACRE TV’s latest project might now be a little too timely: this diverse four-part multitude of twice-airing video art first and foremost “re-considers your nightmares.” This week, you can catch the daydreams, fantasies, and horrors reworked in the first airing of Part 4 (MARE) and the second airing of Part 1 (RE). (Julia Aizuss)
Electra
Court Theatre, 5535 S. Ellis Ave. Through Sunday, December 11. $58, discounts available for seniors, faculty, and students. (773) 753-4472. courttheatre.org
What can you expect from family drama? In the case of the third and final chapter of Court’s Greek Cycle, a story in which “even justice can bring destruction.” In Sophocles’ play, Nicholas Rudall’s translation, and under Seret Scott’s direction, Electra and her brother Orestes scheme to avenge their father Agamemnon’s murder. (Daniel Mays)
In De’ Beginnin’
eta Creative Arts, 7558 S. South Chicago Ave. Through Saturday, December 24. $40, discounts for students and seniors. (773) 752-3955. etacreativearts.org
Oscar Brown Jr.’s funky musical, based on the Book of Genesis, is eta Creative Arts’ holiday entertainment offering for families. Brown was a multitalented artist, civil rights activist, and humanitarian; his daughter Maggie Brown will take on musical direction for this production, which eta calls a “tribute” to one of “Chicago’s greatest artists.” (Joseph S. Pete)