BULLETIN
Students Teach: Racial Profiling…From the Classroom to the Street
Aiming to bring ideas and approaches from the “21st century youth movement” to bear on educational settings, the Chicago Teachers Union and a variety of community and social justice groups will host students and teachers at an “after-school event” addressing racial profiling in education and society. The event represents an impressive coalition between labor groups, education activists, and organizations fighting mass incarceration and racial profiling. By subverting the conventional student-teacher classroom dynamic, the event hopes to allow participants to learn from each other and build the basis for longer-term education and activism in the classroom and beyond. SEIU Healthcare Illinois & Indiana, 2229 S. Halsted St. Thursday, January 22, 5pm-7pm. ctunet.com (Benjamin Chametzky)
25th Ward TIF Town Meeting
Tax Increment Financing (TIF) is a process through which property taxes over a certain amount are channeled into projects for what the city calls “development”. These funds go towards businesses and economic development, but take money away from other city services like transit and schools. Proponents argue these projects help fuel economic activity, while opponents argue that, without public oversight, TIF funding may not help district citizens. In cooperation with the Pilsen Alliance, the TIF Illumination Project hopes to shed light on the issue and share what citizens of the 25th TIF Ward can do about TIFs in their community. Rudy Lozano Library, 1895 S. Loomis St. Thursday, January 29, 6pm-8pm. civiclab.us (Akanksha Shah)
Chicago’s School Closings
A little less than two years ago, the Chicago Board of Education voted to close 49 neighborhood schools after months of controversy. The closings are the subject of the second event of the School Project, a yearlong exploration of the state of the CPS. The focus of the event is a brief documentary about Rousemary Vega, a CPS parent whose vocal advocacy during the school closings led to a ban from Chicago School Board meetings. The film, Chicago Public Schools: Closed, is the second in a series of six brief documentaries produced by the School Project. After the screening and a presentation of research about how the closings affected students, a panel of prominent educators and education advocates will speak with the audience about the consequences of the closings. Logan Center for the Arts, 915 E. 60th St. Thursday, January 22, 6:30pm-9:30pm. schoolprojectfilm.com (Adam Thorp)
Watching the Watchers
In order to aid protests and action that address police violence and create a base of motivated citizens, the organizations We Charge Genocide and Project NIA have organized a day of workshops and discussions titled “Watching the Watchers: Strategies to End Police Violence.” Topics include reparations for victims, sustainable jail support, local rotating bail, the role of art in protests, youth involvement, and the impact of police violence on women and trans people. This program is part of a grassroots campaign advocating the end of oppressive policing, and is intended to be both an informational event and a call to action. Roosevelt University, 430 S. Michigan Ave. Saturday, January 24, 9am-6pm. wechargegenocide.org (Akanksha Shah)
11th Ward Aldermanic Town Hall Forum
Here in Chicago, the new year could bring major changes: a new mayor, new speed limits, and even the resurrection of the Daley dynasty. A historic stronghold of the Daley political machine, the 11th Ward is set for a tight aldermanic race between community activist Maureen Sullivan, law student John Kozlar, and Patrick Daley Thompson, grandson of former Mayor Richard J. Daley. On January 25 the ward will host a town hall forum where candidates will assemble for a Q&A, and perhaps duke things out among themselves. The forum will allot equal speaking times for each candidate. Spanish and Chinese translations will be available. First Lutheran Church of the Trinity, 643 W. 31st St. Sunday, January 25, 3pm. (Lauren Gurley)
STAGE & SCREEN
Rodney King written and performed by Roger Guenveur Smith
In 1991, the video of Rodney King’s beating at the hands of the LAPD was leaked to the press. A year later, the officers responsible were acquitted of assault and the use of excessive force by a nearly all-white jury, setting off some of the largest riots in US history. However, King’s story didn’t end there. In Rodney King, Roger Guenveur Smith explores the rest of King’s troubled life through a one-man conversation with the deceased King. As Smith explores and grapples with King’s mixed legacy, he brings the audience towards a more nuanced view of a complicated story, not often told when recounting the story of the LA riots. King was the centerpiece of a defining moment of racial struggle, but Smith shows that the story still resonates. The DuSable Museum of African American History, 740 E. 56th Pl. Saturday, January 24, 7pm. Free. (773)947-0600. dusablemuseum.org (Will Craft)
Laurence Ralph: Renegade Dreams
Laurence Ralph aims to put into words the gang violence that many Chicagoans on the West Side of the city experience every day. Often misunderstood and far removed from the public eye, the tragedies that happen in these neighborhoods have become the crux of Ralph’s new anthropological work, Renegade Dreams: Living Through Injury in Gangland Chicago, and on January 29, he will discuss his book at the Seminary Co-op. An assistant professor in the departments of Anthropology and African and African American Studies at Harvard, Ralph has worked tirelessly within this West Side community to bring to light the individual stories of its inhabitants. His goal is ultimately to paint a different picture of this and many other gang-controlled neighborhoods and show that they are communities with hopes and dreams for change, and not just billboards for poverty, addiction, and violence, while also interrogating the implications of his outsider status for the effects of his work. Seminary Co-op, 5751 S. Woodlawn Ave. Thursday, January 29, 5pm. Free. (773)752-4381. semcoop.com (Cristina Ochoa)
Untitled (Just Kidding)
Santa Fe-born artist and curator Jesse Malmed is one of those (kinda) funny people who think jumbling mediums in seemingly senseless and absurd ways is a culturally productive method of creating new and relevant art. He might just be on to something. Taking a cue from avant-garde image culture, his work “Untitled (Just Kidding)”—see, there’s that wit and self-awareness already at play—is a program of experimental video that Jesse’s bio claims is “conceptually engaged, language-intensive, and visually mesmerizing.” Expect a slew of dizzying wisecracks from the kind of person who gets a BA in Film/Electronic Arts and an MFA in Moving Image, meaning the sounds of images mispronounced and other semiotic shenanigans, at a one-night only extravaganza at the Film Studies Center with Malmed himself in attendance. Logan Center for the Arts, 915 E. 60th St. Friday, January 23, 6:30pm. Free. (773)702-2787. filmstudiescenter.uchicago.edu (James Kogan)
Diversity in Children’s Books Panel Discussion
Open up a children’s book and flip through the pages. What do the characters look like? Do these books portray a wide enough variety of families, and circumstances? The four local authors comprising the panel in this discussion wouldn’t say so. In an event that will appeal to anyone with a stake in the future of children’s books or education, the authors will speak about writing stories that feature underrepresented characters, navigating the publishing process, and their overall impressions on the progress of the children’s publishing industry. With interest rising in exposing children to diversity, don’t miss the opportunity to engage in conversation with authors at the forefront of the issue. 57th Street Books, 1301 E. 57th St. Friday, January 23, 6:30pm. Free. RSVP requested. (773)684-1300. semcoop.com (Eleonora Edreva)
Strangers on a Train
Alfred Hitchock’s 1951 film Strangers on a Train introduces viewers to two less-than-happy men, amateur golf player Guy Haines (Farley Granger) and Bruno Anthony (Robert Walker). After recognizing Guy on a train, Bruno begins the two on a conversational exchange about people who burden them the most in life. Next, he offers a solution: that each man kill the other’s burden, so that neither is suspected of either crime. Based on the novel by Patricia Highsmith and co-adapted with Raymond Chandler, Hitchcock’s work succeeds in suspense and exceeds in its reflection upon the evil that lurks just underneath the surface of human morality. Doc Films, 1212 E. 59th St. Saturday, January 23, 7pm, 9pm, 11pm; Sunday, January 24, 1:30pm. $5. (773)702-8574 docfilms.uchicago.edu (Lauren Poulson)
Waiting for Godot
This season, Court Theatre will take on absurdist play Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot. The story follows two moody vagrant men, who are (you guessed it) waiting for a mysterious Godot. The tragicomedy has been interpreted in countless ways since its 1953 premiere. Court’s interpretation comes from accomplished director Ron OJ Parson, and the cast includes regulars A.C. Smith, Allen Gilmore, and Alfred Wilson. After Parson’s work on Seven Guitars in 2013, audiences will be waiting to see his returning direction at Court, whether or not Godot shows up in the end. Court Theatre, 5535 S. Ellis Ave. January 15 through February 15. $35–$65, discounts available for seniors and students. (773)753-4472. courttheatre.org (Sammie Spector)
Love Is Strange
A beautifully written, directed, and acted film, Ian Sachs’s 2014 dramatic comedy Love is Strange explores the relationship of a post-middle aged couple, Ben (John Lithgow) and George (Alfred Molina), as they overcome the years-long hurdle of obtaining a marriage license. As they enter their newlywed status, they are forced to cope with the struggles of separation caused by economic hardship. Taking a unique intergenerational perspective, Ira Sachs and Mauricio Zacharias’s script takes on a new life onscreen at the Beverly Arts Center. Beverly Arts Center, 2401 W. 111th St. Saturday, January 21, 7:30 pm. $7.50, $5.50 for members. R-rated. (773)445-3838. beverlyartcenter.org (Itzel Blancas)
Critical Historical Studies Launch Party
Step into any college library and one might encounter hundreds of theories of yore, kept on life support by the many students breathing renewed life (often unwillingly) into the antiquated ideas of dead writers. These, however, are sometimes seen as stale. For detractors of those traditions, critical theory is an alternative: a grounded—albeit broad—way of keeping one’s ear to the floor and looking ahead, configured through the lens of the social sciences and humanities. Come to Seminary Co-op as it joins the Chicago Center for Contemporary Theory (3CT) for the release party of its first two issues of Critical Historical Studies, a new journal seeking to contextualize recent changes in global capitalist society. A member of the University of Chicago Press will speak on the significance of print media in the age of digital information, and editors William Sewell and Moishe Postone will brief you on what’s so cool about critical theory while you inconspicuously try to stuff your face with refreshments and light hors d’oeuvres. Seminary Co-op, 5751 S. Woodlawn Ave. Wednesday, January 21, 6pm. Free. (773)752-4381. semcoop.com (James Kogan)
Global Voices Author Night with Eric Posner & Geoffrey Stone
Human rights law is in a golden age of hypocrisy. Saudi Arabia, which brutally suppresses free speech, and Sudan, both notorious for war crimes and ethnic cleansing, have sat on the UN Council on Human Rights. At the same time, the nations that most vocally champion human rights laws flagrantly violate them. Slavery survives in democracies including India and much of Eastern Europe, and even the United States is not above torture. On January 27, legal scholars Eric Posner and Geoffrey Stone will examine this state of affairs, discussing Stone’s recently published book, The Twilight of International Human Rights Law. Stone addresses a wide range of relevant topics including the flawed role of international treaties, potential solutions to the current system, and related current events and controversies. Presented by the Seminary Co-op Bookstore in partnership with International House, the dialogue promises a healthy dose of righteous anger tempered with thoughtful analysis. Assembly Hall, International House, 1414 E. 59th St. Tuesday, January 27. 6pm-7:30pm. Free. (773)753-2270. ihouse.uchicago.edu (Kevin Gislason)
Missing Pages Lecture Series
Did our high-school history textbooks cover everything we needed to know? The DuSable Museum doesn’t think so. Aiming to reveal the people, places, and events that haven’t gotten proper credit for shaping history, the lecture series “Missing Pages,” which started November 20 and runs through March, is designed to address larger themes of politics, culture, race relations, and personal identity. The largely unknown figures and topics will be presented and discussed by nationally known speakers, and while their subjects never received much recognition in common memory or the media, now they take center stage. All this series asks of its audience members is that they remain open to what they might not have known and be willing to pick up a pencil and fill in history’s forgotten pages. DuSable Museum, 740 E. 56th Pl. Through March. Various Thursdays, 6:30pm. $5. dusablemuseum.org (Emiliano Burr di Mauro)
VISUAL ARTS
Nuestras Historias
From ancient Mesoamerican artifacts to contemporary artwork from both sides of the border, from neon pink protest art reading “Make Tacos Not War” to a sculpture about laborers made from a lawnmower, the latest exhibit at the National Museum of Mexican Art seeks to challenge the idea that there is a single history that defines Mexican identity in North America. “Nuestras Historias” draws an amazing range of pieces from the NMMA’s world-class permanent collection, creating a display diverse in both medium and narrative. The exhibition also features folk art, ceramics, and items from the colonial period, as well as a section devoted to artists from Chicago dealing with themes such as immigration, gentrification, and incarceration. National Museum of Mexican Art, 1852 W. 19th St. Through November 30. Tuesday-Sunday, 10am-5pm. (312)738-1502. nationalmuseumofmexicanart.org (Akanksha Shah)
Wxnder Wxrds
Gallery 5 at the Hyde Park Art Center currently features recent work by Mexico City-based artist Nuria Montiel. Pieces included in the exhibition, titled “Wxnder Wxrds,” were produced during Montiel’s 2014 Jackman Goldwasser residency at HPAC, during which she brought her mobile printing press—La Imprenta Móvil—to various public sites around Chicago, including Sweet Water Foundation, Hull House, and the National Museum of Mexican Art. Monteil engaged visitors at each site in conversations on art, politics, and civic life while making her prints, which transform bits of collected dialogue into abstract visual poems. Through public production and installation of the prints around the city, Montiel’s project explores the relationship between art and social participation. “Wxnder Wxrds” exhibits Montiel’s prints and installation documents, as well as reflections on the artist’s community-centered creative process. Hyde Park Art Center, 5020 S. Cornell Ave. Through February 21. Monday-Thursday, 9am-8pm; Friday-Saturday, 9am-5pm; Sunday, noon-5pm. Free. (773)324-5520. hydeparkart.org (Kirsten Gindler)
The sky is falling. The money’s all gone.
Ever wondered what it would be like to actually manage late-stage capitalism’s assorted problems? Lucky Pierre, a collaborative group working in writing, performance, and visual forms, is out to counter neoliberal economics’s hard belief in the merit of “growth” and face the fragile social, environmental, and economic conditions it has begot. In the interest of reevaluating the ways artists respond to worldly despair, Lucky Pierre is hosting a ten-week, five-session collaborative seminar in which its participants and Lucky Pierre facilitators will troubleshoot what it calls “the new collapse.” Students of the Lucky Pierre Free University will sketch plans for a different future in what can only be expected to be a fantastic multi-disciplinary artistic exploration. LPFU will also be a short academic course, complete with required reading, writing prompts, and a final presentation. So kind of like school, but for another type of real world. MANA Contemporary, 2233 S. Throop St. February 7 through April 17. Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm. Free. (312)850-8301. manacontemporarychicago.com (James Kogan)
Melika Bass: The Last Sun is Sinking Fast
Using sound, 16mm video, and architecture, the artwork of award-winning filmmaker and installation artist Melika Bass blends morbid and magical elements to reveal a fractured fictional view of American life. “The Last Sun is Sinking Fast,” currently up at the Hyde Park Art Center, features a spatial narrative that delves deeply into the psyche of characters in Bass’s previous film, while also introducing new characters. By redesigning the gallery space, Bass leads the viewer through a poignant memory of place and transports the viewer into a society of lost souls in a haunted world. Hyde Park Art Center, 5020 S. Cornell Ave. Through April 19. Monday-Thursday, 9am-8pm; Friday-Saturday 9am-5pm; Sunday, noon-5pm. Free. (773)324-5520. hydeparkart.org (Adia Robinson)
I Am American
This land is your land, this land is my land. From sculpture to paint, from first-generation immigrant to Native American, twenty-five artists explore the different dimensions and definitions of American identity. “I Am American” is a traveling exhibition that, by virtue of its destinations across the U.S., challenges viewers to reflect on their own place in the nation and what it means to inhabit a space with people who may not share the same answer. In Chicago, the exhibition will be housed at the Zhou B. Art Center. Go with questions about the exhibition’s title. Chances are, you’ll emerge with more than twenty-five answers. Zhou B. Art Center, 1029 W. 35th St. Through February 14. Monday-Saturday, 10am-5pm. (773)523-0200. zhoubartcenter.com (Kristin Lin)
People at Work
Michael Gaylord James has captured the workday tasks of people around the world in photographs taken over the course of fifty years. Beginning in Chicago, James carried his camera everywhere from Cuba to Ireland to the late USSR, snapping pictures of the glamorous and the not-so-glamorous on the daily grind. Though this might seem like a mundane topic, beware of underestimating the intrigue of this show, for these aren’t your typical nine-to-fives. In photos selected from a larger collection, you will see President Kennedy in a motorcade, the unseen kitchen hands of Chicago, Muddy Waters, and James Cotton playing music, dancers, mechanics, and many others on the job, all frozen in an almost eerie moment of monotonous movement. Take a break from your own job and visit “People at Work” to witness first-hand how beautiful everyday life can be. Uri-Eichen Gallery, 2101 S. Halsted St. Through February 6. Closing reception, 6pm-9pm. Additional hours by appointment. (312)852-7717. uri-eichen.com (Dagny Vaughn)
Mathias Poledna
The Renaissance Society is currently celebrating its hundredth anniversary. Their most recent showcase, the finale to this first century, not only celebrates the past decades of audiences and artists galore, but also considers, and dismantles, the very structure of the Renaissance Society’s gallery. Literally. Los Angeles-based, Viennese artist Mathias Poledna has removed the gallery’s steel truss-gridded ceiling, an emblem (and tool) of the space since 1967. He is the first artist to physically alter the gallery, asking viewers to consider both iconoclasm and the nature of material property. This altering of the gallery will be supported by a 35mm film installation. The Renaissance Society’s invitation to Poledna to demolish the iconic grates, as well as the co-production of his film, stems from its readiness to enter its second century as a leading modern art gallery. Poledna’s work—highly concentrated film stills and their contextual contemplations—creates a dialogue between the historical legacy of the Renaissance Society and the avant-garde artworks within it. The Renaissance Society, 5811 S. Ellis Ave. Through February 8. Tuesday-Friday, 10am-5pm; Saturday-Sunday, 12pm-5pm. Free. (773)702-8670. renaissancesociety.org (Sammie Spector)
Ground Floor
Marking the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Hyde Park Art Center, “Ground Floor” features artworks from prominent Chicago MFA programs, creating a biennial showcase of emerging talents so new they haven’t even begun their careers yet. The twenty artists, selected from over one hundred nominations, represent a wide range of mediums, forms, and universities: Columbia College, Northwestern, SAIC, the UofC, and UIC. These artists have also had the chance to exhibit at September’s EXPO Chicago in HPAC’s booth. This unique program, showcased throughout the entirety of HPAC’s ground floor gallery space, offers the chosen artists a helpful push toward a career in the art world; “Ground Floor” alumni include two artists who have recently displayed artwork at the Whitney Biennial. Hyde Park Art Center, 5020 S. Cornell Ave. Through March 22. Monday-Thursday, 9am-8pm; Friday-Saturday, 9am-5pm; Sunday, 12pm-5pm. Free. (773)324-5520. hydeparkart.org (Sammie Spector)
Lands End
Walk to the Point, to the edge of the rocks, where Lake Michigan meets your toes. “Lands end. They all do,” claims a new exhibition, curated by UofC alumna Katherine Harvath and faculty member Zachary Cahill. Starting this Friday, the Logan Center gallery will feature the work of thirteen sculptors, painters, and performance and installation artists from lands across the world, contemplating the role of landscape in contemporary life. On February 16, Logan will host a panel discussion with Brian Holmes, Claire Pentecost, and Dan Peterman, all featured in the exhibition. Come explore old lands through new eyes. Logan Center for the Arts, 915 E. 60th St. January 9 through March 15, Tuesday-Saturday, 9am-8pm; Sunday, 11am-8pm. Opening reception Friday, January 9, 6pm-8pm. (773)702-3787. arts.uchicago.edu/landsend (Kristin Lin)
Exodus
Exodus: the triumphant escape from slavery into…into what? Into the desert for forty years? A collaborative new show featuring the works of Alexandria Eregbu and Alfredo Salazar-Caro, “Exodus” plays with and inverts the themes of liberation and migration in vivid multimedia. Eregbu’s installations employ curious combinations of industrial materials to probe the meaning of identity, belonging, assimilation, and alienation, drawing on her own Nigerian-American heritage. Salazar-Caro’s interactive installation, titled “Border Crossing Simulator Beta,” features a video game narrative of crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. His digital work complements Eregbu’s physical constructions while challenging the viewers with disorienting touches, demanding that the viewer engage with the world presented in “Exodus.” This installation was chosen as the winner for Arts + Public Life’s 2015 open call for proposals. Arts Incubator Gallery, 301 E. Garfield Blvd. Through March 20. Tuesday-Friday, 12pm-6pm; Thursday. 12pm-7pm. Free. (773)702-9724. arts.uchicago.edu (Lillian Selonick)
Free at First
The Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) is an experimental jazz collective founded in 1965 by Chicago musicians and composers interested in developing a radical infrastructure to support their unconventional style. Since its inception, AACM musicians have made monumental contributions to the development of free and experimental jazz. “Free at First: The Audacious Journey of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians” at the DuSable will take visitors on a journey through the early years of the AACM and the sociopolitical context of the musicians who liberated themselves through their genre-defying musical pursuits. In addition to archival photos, performance artifacts, and a musical soundscape, the interactive exhibition will feature a scavenger hunt-style game and a working recreation of AACM member Henry Threadgill’s “hubkaphone,” an instrument made of hubcaps. DuSable Museum, 740 E. 56th Pl. Through September 6. Tuesday-Saturday, 10am-5pm; Sunday, noon-5pm. $10 general admission; $8 Chicago residents; $7 students. (773)947-0600. dusablemuseum.org (Kirsten Gindler)
Boys Will Be Boys
There aren’t many things in this world sadder than the sight of a stripped Christmas tree shivering by the dumpster in January. While the smell of pine may linger on the pillows and curtains for a few days, most would say it’s time to move on from the last month of jolly excess and consumption. With an on-site installation featured at the Ordinary Projects, however, Kasia Ozga brings the Christmas tree back into the New Year with commentary on the events of the year past. Her giant sculpture of fifteen Christmas trees will challenge the ordinary conception of those skimpy green branches to trigger reflection on ties between consumerism and racism in America, including recent events of police brutality. After an encounter with “Boys Will Be Boys,” you might never look at your Christmas tree’s “unchanging leaves” the same way again. Ordinary Projects, 2233 S. Throop St., fifth floor. Through February 6. Gallery hours TBA. ordinaryprojects.org (Amelia Dmowska)
Leftyoutthere
A sculpture of a pair of blue legs speckled with red daubs of paint. A green face almost buried in a sea of green, orange, and pink zigzags. With street artist Leftyoutthere, FLATspace’s newest exhibition seeks to explore “the intervention of line and its ability to interrupt and transform spatial and temporal orientations.” Leftyoutthere’s art uses multiple mediums—painting, sculpture—and features busy backgrounds and patterns combined with interjections of solid color. FLATspace’s mission is to aid early-career artists by providing a space for exchange with more established art organizations. The end result of this collaboration is an exhibit investigating the effect of the line in Leftyoutthere’s artwork and a short, two-day opportunity to view it. FLATspace, 2233 S. Throop St., fourth floor. Saturday, January 24, 6pm-10pm; January 25, 11am-4pm. (312)647-6286. flatspace.org (Akanksha Shah)
Level Eater 5.0
Take up thine sword, young hero. The halls of the Co-Prosperity Sphere beckon thee toward a stop on your epic quest to fill your goblet with specialty-brewed ales courtesy of 3 Floyds and Marz Community Brewery, or to feast upon Dönerman Food Truck vittles. Limited-edition Level Eater hoodies will be available and add +15 defense when equipped. Art from all across the realm, curated by Ed Marszewski and Nick Floyd, will be on display for your inner nerd’s pleasure. The dungeon will house a secret band, which is much better than the traditional troll or ogre. Admission price will include a complimentary Level Eater beverage. Co-Prosperity Sphere, 3219-21 S. Morgan St. Saturday, January 31, 5pm-10pm. $15. (773)837-0145. leveleater.org (Mark Hassenfratz)
MUSIC
The Greedy Bliss
What happens when you combine the nuanced musicality of a Chicago performance veteran with the high-energy pizzazz of a bandleader accustomed to playing weddings and corporate galas? You end up with Colby Beserra and Matt Reed’s musical brainchild, Christian jazz-rock act The Greedy Bliss. The duo’s recently released album, This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things, features over twenty easy-listening jams with a message. If you’re looking to really mellow out this week, check out The Greedy Bliss at Reggies—they’ll be playing alongside fellow smooth crooning acts Kevin & the Collective, Nonpronto, and Sarah Eide. Reggies, 2105 S. State St. January 22, 7pm. $7. 21+. (312)949-0120. reggieslive.com (Olivia Myszkowski)
112 and ZZAJÉ
On January 24, the Promontory will present 112 and ZZAJÉ as a part of Sweet Tea Saturday. Dubbed by the venue “the good boys of Sean ‘Puffy’ Combs bad boy roster,” 112 have been an R&B, gospel, and hip-hop hit-making machine for the last two decades. Known for their clean-cut image, their classic sound is fully rooted in the late nineties and early 2000s. ZZAJÉ has a funkier sound carried by their twelve-piece group, and is known for their live performances and as backers for acts like R. Kelly. The event is sponsored by St. Claire Green Tea Vodka, and attendees will have a chance to taste-test. The Promontory, 5311 S. Lake Park Ave. January 24, 10pm, doors at 9:30pm. $30-$350. (312)801-2100. promontorychicago.com (Elizabeth Bynum)
Kindred the Family Soul
If “married people soul” were its own genre, duo Kindred the Family Soul would be at the top. Fatin Dantzler and Aja Graydon put out their first album, Surrender to Love, in 2003, garnering multiple award nominations. They’ve followed their most recent release, A Couple Friends with a long-form music video, a series of songs punctuated with vignettes of family life and friends’ relationships. The sound is neo soul, and the lyrics speak to long-lasting love, the kind that looks more like putting the kids to bed and stressing over credit scores than it does straight-up seduction. The longtime married couple will be at the Promontory this Friday for what would make a great parents’ night out or a very serious first date. The Promontory, 5311 S. Lake Park Ave. January 23, 7:30pm, doors at 6:30pm; 10pm, doors at 9pm. $25-45. (312)801-2100. promontorychicago.com (Hannah Nyhart)
Golden Age of Hip Hop Party
The twenty-first century, as we all know, is overrated. The only good things that’ve come out of the past fifteen years are the Tickle Me Elmo, the selfie stick, and Uniqlo in America. Good hip-hop, you will notice, is not on that list. Lucky for us, the Shrine is hosting a “Golden Era Hip Hop Dance Party” this weekend at which we’ll be able to party like it’s—okay, I’ll say it—1999. Or any year 1990 through 1998, for that matter. Come out for sets from local hotshots DJ Tone B. Nimble and DJ PNS, and for a late-night live show by nineties hip-hop legends EPMD, of “You Gots To Chill” fame. Put down that selfie stick and just chill, man. The Shrine, 2109 S. Wabash Ave. Friday, January 23, doors 9pm. $20. 21+. (312)753-5681. theshrinechicago.com (Jake Bittle)