Calendar for January 28, 2015

BULLETIN

Lessons From Ferguson
Following the tragic deaths of unarmed people of color at the hands of the police across the country, the need to address longstanding problems with policing and the justice system has been made clear. However, these issues are complicated and multifaceted, sitting at the crossroads of such issues as race, poverty, gun control, law enforcement, and the role of government. “Lessons From Ferguson,” a panel hosted by the Institute of Politics, seeks to identify what can be done to bring together communities and the institutions that are meant to help them. Issues ranging from race and poverty to gun control, law enforcement, and the role of government are likely to be discussed. University of Chicago Law School, 1111 E. 60th St. January 28, 6pm-7:30pm. (Akanksha Shah)

Cornel West: “The Radical King” – Center for the Study of Race, Politics, and Culture Annual Lecture
Martin Luther King, Jr. is widely celebrated for the pivotal role he played in the Civil Rights Movement as a powerful advocate and leader who became the standard for social change through non-violent, peaceful protest and civil disobedience. What is less well known is the extent and breadth of his radicalism. At this year’s public lecture hosted by the Center for the Study of Race, Politics and Culture at UofC, Dr. Cornel West, a prominent intellectual, activist and author, will discuss King’s politics as portrayed in his most recent book, “The Radical King,” a compilation of twenty-three selections written by Martin Luther King Jr. that reveal the underemphasized radical politics of one of the most influential figures in American history.  As Dr. West writes in the introduction, “This book unearths a radical King that we can no longer sanitize.” Rockefeller Memorial Chapel, 5850 S. Woodlawn Ave. Sunday, February 1, 2pm. (773)702-8063 (Sophia Sheng)

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)

STAGE & SCREEN

Remembering Harold Washington
Harold Washington is renowned for being the first African-American mayor of Chicago and the namesake of a city library, park, college, and cultural center, but one may pause to wonder precisely how, or even whether, Chicago was transformed by his tenure. Black Cinema House, in partnership with South Side Projections, presents three disparate screenings exploring Washington’s legacy: Running with the Mayor (1984), Why Get Involved (1983), and an excerpt from Chicago Politics: A Theatre of Power (1987). The three screenings, followed by a conversation with Javier Vargas (contributor to Running with the Mayor) and Bill Stamets (producer of Chicago Politics), provide not only a narrative that examines Washington’s campaign trail, first election night in 1983, and tragically brief second term, but also an opportunity to discuss and consider Washington’s ideas and power in speech, his racially charged opposition, and his impact on race relations and the future of Chicago. Black Cinema House, 7200 S. Kimbark Ave. Sunday, February 1, 2pm. Free. blackcinemahouse.org (Felicia Woron)

Do the Right Thing
Racial tensions rise with the heat in Brooklyn’s predominantly black Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood in Spike Lee’s 1989 film Do the Right Thing. Set on the hottest day of the summer, the heat and angst is palpable as the mélange of people from Bed-Stuy’s community band together to boycott Sal’s, a local white-owned pizzeria. An Academy Award-nominated film that is not only thematically but also cinematographically vibrant, Do the Right Thing explores and warns against the dangers of social violence—a message that reverberates even twenty-six years later. Presented in conjunction with University of Chicago Professor Jaqueline Stewart’s course “African American Cinema Since 1970.” Black Cinema House, 7200 S. Kimbark. Friday, January 30, 7pm; doors open at 6:30pm. Free. RSVP encouraged. blackcinemahouse.org (Itzel Blancas)

The Long White Cloud
The newest film of internationally-acclaimed performance artist and UofC Visual Arts faculty member William Pope.L, The Long White Cloud, is more than just a movie: produced as part a larger project in Auckland, New Zealand, it was filmed after open rehearsals, performed live, and then turned into a site-specific installation of the film in the space where it was created, detritus from the performance and all. Pope.L explores the supposedly “post-racial” cultures of New Zealand and the United States, questioning what such a culture feels like, if it even exists at all, as well as whether a person can ever fully relate to someone else’s life. After the screening at Black Cinema House on Thursday, he will be there in person, along with Marco G. Ferrari, who co-edited the film, for further discussion. The film includes explicit images and adult subject matter, so viewer discretion is advised. Black Cinema House, 7200 S. Kimbark Ave. Thursday, January 29, 7pm. Free. RSVP recommended. blackcinemahouse.org (Kirsten Gindler and Olivia Stovicek)

Hearts and Minds
Hearts and Minds is the definitive documentary of the Vietnam War, examining the effects of the war on the Vietnamese people and American culture. Filmed for a year at a cost of only $1 million, the film was released in 1974 at the beginning of the collapse of the war and won the 1975 Academy Award for Best Documentary. Directed by Peter Davis, a journalist, filmmaker, and author, the film documents the war through various interviews with military officers and soldiers along with footage of the war itself. The film will be screened on February 2 by the UofC’s Karla Scherer Center for the Study of American Culture, which seeks to “develop a new model for graduate education in American culture” and sponsors a variety of courses examining American culture. Accompanying the film will be a post-screening discussion with Davis, Mark Bradley, and Bernadotte E. Schmitt, a professor of international history. Cochrane-Woods Art Center, 5540 S. Greenwood Ave. February 2, 6pm. Free. americanculture.uchicago.edu (Clyde Schwab)

Hyde Park Bank High School Performance Festival
On February 23, scenes and monologues from the August Wilson Century Cycle will be presented at the Court Theatre by students from several South Side high schools. The Century Cycle, also known as the Pittsburgh Cycle, is a series of ten plays, each set in a different decade, that chronicle the experiences of African Americans in Pittsburgh. According to Wilson, the plays seek to show the similarities between the lives, passions and pains of African Americans and white Americans. A scenic design exhibition by the high school students will accompany the performances. Participating schools include Kenwood Academy, Robert Lindblom Math and Science Academy, Neal F. Simeon Career Academy High School, Sullivan House Alternative School, and the William Rainey Harper High School. Court Theatre, 5535 S. Ellis Ave. Tuesday, February 3, 5:30pm-8pm. Free, reservations encouraged. (773)753-4472. courttheatre.org (Clyde Schwab)

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)

Waiting for Godot
This season, Court Theatre takes 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)

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, 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

Migrant Files
Life exists in transitory setting—we find ourselves in different places for different reasons, and sometimes not by choice. “The Migrant Files” presents three studies of the forced mobility imposed upon the modern lower class. Through video, Austen Brown transports viewers to the oil fields of North Dakota, where laborers work on short-term contracts and live in mobile homes, simultaneously transitory and stationary. Billy McGuinness takes us to the kitchen floors of Cook County Jail, where he painted three monochromatic canvases. And, finally, Jaxon Pallas shows us the aesthetics of abandonment in his print works on the great falls of the American economy. ACRE promises an expanded public program to supplement this exhibition. Catch the exhibition before it moves on; travel in discomfort through America. ACRE Projects, 1913 W. 17th St. February 8 through March 2. Opening reception Sunday, February 8, 4pm-8pm. Sundays and Mondays, 12pm-4pm. acreresidency.org (Kristin Lin)

Mana Contemporary February Open House
For some, Sunday afternoons mean lox, bagels, and cream cheese. For others, football. For you, it could be the February Open House at Pilsen’s Mana Contemporary Chicago. Wander the enormous building, designed by Chicago architect George Nimmons. Explore more than fifty art studios (all open to you!). Admire the relatively large oil paintings of postmodern Icelandic artist Erró, who trained in all the standard European ways but has arrived at a style marked by his assemblages of public figures—artists, politicians and despots, etc.—and a heavy-handed use of American comic book imagery. There will also be performances and exhibitions from a variety of foundations, funds, and societies. The fourth floor of the building will be utilized by one of Chicago’s premier dance crews, THE ERA, for a footwork workshop. Mana Contemporary Chicago, 2233 S. Throop St. Erró exhibiton until April 30, 2015. Reception Februrary 8, 1pm-4 pm. Open Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm. Free. (312)850-0555. manacontemporarychicago.com (James Kogan)

The Aesthetics of Struggle
Chicago artist Raymond Thomas brings forward a collection of his recent works in his upcoming exhibition “The Aesthetics of Struggle,” an exploration of the idea of art as its own form of activism. Exhibited at the United Foundation for Arts and Technology, these mixed-media presentations seek to understand the connections between identity, religion, race, politics, and culture in the twenty-first century. Drawing inspiration from the impact of AFRICOBRA and the Black Arts Movement of the sixties and seventies, Thomas analyzes collective social existences of our times. United Foundation for Arts and Technology, 1833 S. Halsted St. February 13-March 6. Opening reception Friday, February 13, 6pm-10pm. Free. ufat.org (Lauren Poulson)

Bridgeport Art Center’s Third Annual Art Competition
At the Bridgeport Art Center, January means submissions for the third Annual Bridgeport Art Competition. Prizes will be awarded to the artists behind the eight most noteworthy pieces—as selected by artist-jurors Amanda Williams and Monika Wulfers—on the exhibit’s opening day. The gallery will remain open for the following month, showcasing all submissions in a celebration of Chicago art. Expect to hear the names of artists unfamiliar and established alike, and to see a wide array of photography, painting, drawing, sculpture, and mixed media compositions. Entry fees must be postmarked, electronic applications submitted, by January 31. Bridgeport Art Center, 1200 W. 35th St. February 28 through April 5. Monday-Saturday, 8am-6pm; Sunday, 8am-12pm. Free. (773)247-3000. bridgeportart.com (Emeline Posner)

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 last month’s 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)

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

Scotch Hollow
A staple of the roots scene throughout the Midwest and Northeast U.S., Scotch Hollow is a band grounded in old-school delta blues and traditional finger-pickin’ country. The Chicago-based band formed when Mark Verbeck and Carley Martin met in college, where they both realized that Verbeck’s guitar and ukulele music were a perfect match for Martin’s full-range vocals. After a regional tour, a stay in Nashville, musical redirection, an unfortunate illness, and the addition of Albert Dingus (really) on upright bass, Scotch Hollow is back with a new band, a new sound, and a new EP. Along with The Local Martyrs and good friend Mikey Classic & His Lonesome Spur, they’ll be gracing the Reggies stage with country blues covers and original Americana music that will make you feel like you’re wandering the Appalachian Mountains. Reggies, 2105 S. State St. Wednesday, January 28, 7:30pm. $5. 21+. (313)949-0120. reggieslive.com (Shelby Gonzales)

Captain Crayon and the Fuzzy Bastard
For west suburbanites Chris Warner and Matt Vice, it’s always been about the music. When the duo first took the stage as Captain Crayon and the Fuzzy Bastard at Crossroads open mic night in Wood Dale, Illinois, how could they have known that just two years later, they would be headlining a red-hot experimental punk rock show at Reggies? The boys have, uh, made it, propelled by a passion for rock, folk, and “improvisational wackyness” [sic]. The Captain and the Bastard will be joined by buddy T.J. Mikutis on drums, and followed by vaguely-punk peers Sushi, Seed Socket, and War Wizard. With a sound described by Warner as “different things flying through your eardrums,” there can be no losers—only fools too uptight to appreciate the experience. Reggies, 2105 S. State St. Saturday, January 31. 8:30pm. Free. 21+. (312)949-0120. reggieslive.com (Olivia Myszkowski)

Punk Rock and Donuts
Q: What do you get when you cross libraries, punk bands, and donuts? A: The second installment of the “Punk Rock and Donuts” concert series, coming to Bridgeport’s Richard J. Daley Library this Saturday. Organized by library director and former punk-rocker Jeremy Kitchen as part of an effort to increase community involvement in library events and expand punk show access to music fans of all ages, this free matinee will feature performances by weirdo art-punks Toupée, fuzz-drenched sludge monsters Den, and the psychedelic garage group Radar Eyes, plus free coffee and donuts from nearby Jackalope Coffee and Tea House. Says Kitchen: “Bring the kids…and bring earplugs.” Come Saturday, this library is going to be anything but quiet. Richard J. Daley Library, 3400 S. Halsted St. Saturday, January 31, 2pm; doors at 1:30pm. Free. (312)747-8990. chipublib.org/locations/14 (Juliet Eldred)

Tigran Hamasyan
The Tigran Trio will soon perform in Hyde Park as part of the UofC’s “Jazz at the Logan” series. The trio features pianist Tigran Hamaysan, drummer Arthur Hnatek, and bassist Sam Minaie. Hamaysan, born in Armenia and a piano player by training, was something of a child prodigy. His creative output has only increased over the years as he’s established himself on the international jazz stage. Hamasyan is influenced by a broad spectrum of artists and styles, including Led Zeppelin and the Beatles, folk music, and classic jazz. In recent decades, he has proved himself repeatedly in contest and festival performances to be a musician of the highest caliber, and his recent trio endeavor should only serve to underscore that reputation. Logan Center for the Arts, 915 E. 60th St. Friday, February 13, 7:30pm. $35; $5 UofC students. (773)702-2787. chicagopresents.uchicago.edu (Elizabeth Bynum)