Notes & Calendar 5/23/18

Notes

Studs Lives On

For those of us who missed the chance to hear our city’s beloved oral historian Studs Terkel live on the radio during the forty-five years he broadcast on WFMT—or for those who miss hearing his voice—WFMT, the Chicago History Museum, and the Library of Congress have saved our Studs-deprived souls. Last week, the three institutions launched the Studs Terkel Archive, a website where visitors can listen to 1,200 hours of Terkel’s radio programming for free; eventually 5,600 hours will be available. Terkel is known for an interview style that elicited deep reflections from his subjects—who ran the gamut from Cesar Chavez to Shel Silverstein to Chicago workers talking about their everyday lives—and allowed them to speak for themselves. The Archive is also planning public events, educational programming for high schoolers, and a podcast, launching in August, hosted by artist, scholar, and Weekly alum Eve Ewing.

Black Drag Magic

While the Vixen—a South Side native and former RuPaul’s Drag Race contestant—fell short of taking home the crown during the tenth season of the show, her visibility has helped her  push for a more inclusive queer community in Chicago. Prompted by the lack of representation of Black drag queens and a snarky comment from a bartender that “South Side trash” was ruining Pride, the Vixen, who has performance roots at South Shore’s Jeffery Pub, decided that she would rally against discrimination by curating her own drag show titled “Black Girl Magic,” as reported in last week’s Reader cover story, published with the Triibe (and featuring photographs from Weekly radio host Olivia Obineme).  The show started out as a monthly event at the Berlin Nightclub in Lakeview, and will be moving to the Metro in June. Including members such as Shea Couleé, Dida Ritz (both contestants in previous seasons of Drag Race), and more, the Vixen and the rest of the cast hope to highlight double standards and the issues that Queens of color face within the industry by showcasing performers from around the country.

Pastor Hannah’s Past

Pastor John Hannah, of Greater Grand Crossing’s megachurch New Life Covenant Southeast, is generally known for his political connections: he was previously the Rahm-appointed head of the city’s Human Resources Board, last year pushed to open a charter school within the building of an existing CPS school (the project reportedly ran out of funding), and sat on the school-closure commission created by Emanuel in 2012. So it was somewhat surprising to see Hannah framed as a sponsor of Chicago youth activism around public education, as he bafflingly was last week in the Triibe (usually one of our favorite new outlets in the city) for hosting his seventh annual anti-violence rally—admirable and necessary work in this city, but it’s quite a stretch to paint him as the champion of student education activists, including those of the four Englewood high schools slated for closure by Hannah’s colleagues on the Board of Education.

Calendar

BULLETIN

2018 Youth Connection Charter School Youth Summit

Kennedy-King College, 740 W. 63rd St, U Building. Thursday, May 24, 9am–2pm. Free. bit.ly/YouthConnection

The U.S.’s largest charter network, Youth Connection, has garnered attention for its efforts to help high-school dropouts and at-risk youth. On May 24, it’ll play host to a youth summit on the theme “Democracy and the Color of Change.” (Christian Belanger)  

1Woodlawn Community Meeting

Apostolic Church of God, 6320 S. Dorchester Ave. Thursday, May 24, 6pm–8:30pm. atnetworkofwoodlawn@gmail.com. bit.ly/1WoodlawnMeeting

At this Woodlawn community meeting, city officials from the departments of Planning and Transportation, as well as the Chicago Park District, will provide updates on new developments in and around the neighborhood. (Christian Belanger)

An American Marriage Book Chat with Not Your Nana’s BookClub

Bing Art Books, 307 E. Garfield Blvd. Saturday, May 26, 12pm–2pm. bit.ly/NanasAmericanMarriage

Not Your Nana’s Book Club will be taking a page from Oprah’s latest Book Club selection by reading and discussing Tayari Jones’s novel <i>An American Marriage</i>—“an examination of love, race, and the true meaning of family,” as well as one of the season’s biggest releases. (Julia Aizuss)

Safe Summer Cycling Tour of Greater Grand Crossing

Mural Wall, 7100 S. Cottage Grove Ave. Monday, May 28, 12pm–2:30pm. bit.ly/SafeSummerCyclingGGC

The Gary Comer Youth Center and Antonio’s Response are teaming up this Memorial Day to promote programs that keep youth safe and having fun. Whether you have a bike or not, find out more by meeting up at the Mural Wall on 71st and Cottage Grove—there will be free food and, at the end, a brief memorialization of the loss of loved ones. (Julia Aizuss)

4th Ward Spring Job Fair

IBEW Local 134, 2722 S. King Dr. Wednesday, May 30, 10am–2pm. (773) 536-8103. aldsophiaking.com. Preparation Workshops: King Center, 4314 S. Cottage Grove Ave. Tuesday, May 29, 1pm–2pm. Oakwood Shores, 3825 S. Vincennes Ave. Tuesday, May 29, 6pm–7pm.

The Chicago Cook Workforce Partnership, IBEW Local 134, the Center for New Horizons, and 4th Ward Alderman Sophia King invite you to a job fair, where over thirty companies will be represented. So you can put your best foot forward, they’re offering two preparation workshops. Bring a resume and wear business attire. (Adia Robinson)

STAGE & SCREEN

The Theater Project: Glock (Mauser)

South Side locations: Sherman Park Public Library, 5440 S. Racine Ave. Monday, June 4, 6:30pm. The Floods Studios, southwest corner of W. 19th St & S. Paulina St. Saturday, June 30, 8pm. Free. goethe.de

<i>Glock (Mauser),</i> directed by UofC PhD student Noah Zeldin, is a modern-day adaptation of East German playwright Heiner Müller’s play Mauser, a <i>Lehrstücke</i> or “learning piece” that examines the role of violence and revolutionary change during the Russian Civil War. Zeldin’s play is staged to contemplate contemporary Chicago’s violence and crime as symptoms of larger national problems. (Nicole Bond)

Open Television Premieres: New Black TV

Dorchester Art + Housing Collaborative, 1456 E. 70th St. Friday, June 8, 7:30pm–10pm. Free. (312) 857-5561. rebuild-foundation.org

OTV, a platform that supports experimental alternatives to traditional television, will screen a variety of its ongoing independent pilot projects, film shorts, television series, and webseries from Chicago artists at Black Cinema House. If you liked OTV hits Brown Girls and Brujos, you’re in the right place. (Nicole Bond)

One October

Beverly Arts Center, 2407 W. 111th St. Wednesday, May 23, 7:30pm. $6, $5 BAC members. (773) 445-3838. Beverlyartcenter.org

This 2017 documentary directed by Rachel Shuman and filmed in October 2008 on the eve of Barack Obama’s historic election paints a lyrical portrait of New York City through a radio reporter’s on-the-street interviews with fellow New Yorkers about their lives, their dreams, and their relationship with a transforming city. (Nicole Bond)

The Originalist

Court Theatre, 5535 S. Ellis Ave. Through June 10. 7:30pm on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays; 8pm on Fridays and Saturdays; Sunday matinee at 2:30pm. $38 and up. courttheatre.org

MacArthur Award-winning writer John Strand has debuted a new play in Chicago. A young Harvard Law School graduate finds an unlikely mentor in Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia as the two confront one of the nation’s most polarizing cases. (Nicole Bond)

Couples: Secrets, Truths and Love

The Revival Theater, 1160 E. 55th St. Friday and Saturday, June 1 and 2. Doors 7pm, show 7:30pm. $25. the-revival.com/shows

This original play brought to you by Feed Your Spirit Media and New Birth Productions is the fifth written by author/playwright Dorian H. Nash. Nash’s show is funny in places and poignant in others while showing how in every couple there are secrets, truths, love, and sometimes a surprise no one would have predicted. (Nicole Bond)

Movies in the Park—Marshall 

DuSable Museum of African-American History, Sunken Garden, 740 E. 56th Pl. Saturday, June 16, 7:30pm. Free. (773) 947-0600. dusablemuseum.org

A free outdoor screening of the Reginald Hudlin film about the life of Thurgood Marshall (Chadwick Boseman)—the first Black U.S. Supreme Court Justice—as a young attorney for the NAACP before he won Brown v. Board of Education. (Soulet Ali) 

VISUAL ARTS

Sketch Thursday

Maria’s Packaged Goods and Community Bar, 960 W. 31st St. Thursdays at 7pm. Free, cash bar. (773) 890-0588. community-bar.com

As if you really need a pretext to hang out in this beloved Bridgeport bar, which boasts a well-curated craft beer list (including selections from the in-house Marz Community Brewing Co.) and some of the best (only?) Polish-Korean fusion around. Here’s one anyway: Sketch Thursday invites everyone, artist or not, to drink, draw, and hang out. (Joseph S. Pete)

Everyday Resistance: The Art of Living in Black Chicago

Arts Incubator, 301 E. Garfield Blvd. Opening reception Wednesday, May 23, 6pm–8pm. Exhibition runs May 23–July 6, Wednesday–Friday, noon–6pm. Free. everydayresistance.eventbrite.com

The South Side Home Movie Project, profiled in these pages last week, will host an exhibition at the Arts Incubator designed to document “moments of leisure and performativity lived within the constraints and confines of racism and anti-Blackness.” South Siders can bring in their own home video footage for free archiving and, potentially, projection in future shows. (Christian Belanger)

Fugitive Narratives: Story Time

Hyde Park Art Center, 5020 S. Cornell Ave. Saturday, May 26, 2pm–4pm. Free. (773) 324-5520. hydeparkart.org

“Fugitive Narratives,” an ongoing exhibition at the Hyde Park Art Center, will serve as backdrop to an afternoon of storytelling on May 26 hosted by artists featured in the exhibition. The show itself is about narratives that go beyond the “formal elements of the artwork alone”; expect to discover some of that backstory at this event. (Christian Belanger)

LOVED ONES

Bridgeport Art Center, 1200 W. 35th Street, 4th floor. Through July 6. (773) 843-9000. bridgeportart.com

If you missed the opening reception for “LOVED ONES,” you still have plenty of time to view the exhibit through the beginning of July. The exhibit features artists such as Stephen Butzlaff, Mercedes Cardenas, and Rahmaan Statik, with work that pays homage to important people in each of the artists’ lives through symbolic representations and interpretations. (Rod Sawyer)

FOOD & LAND

Spring Planting Festival

Star Farm, 5008 S. Throop Ave. Friday, May 25, 5pm–10pm. $5 donation per family suggested. starfarmchicago.com

At Back of the Yards’s Star Farm, Friday evening will be the spring planting festival—which is to say, an evening of food, music, art, drinks, and a raffle, not to mention the kick-off of the farm’s Children’s Garden Program. All ages welcome. (Emeline Posner)

Healthy Food Hub

Chatham Academy High School, 9035 S. Langley Ave. Every Saturday beginning June 2 until June 30, 11am–3pm. (708) 405-9476. healthyfoodhub.org

Healthy Food Hub’s farmers markets will make their triumphant return this June in Chatham, where they will serve local, organic, and affordable produce along with food prep demonstrations and tastings. The markets support LINK MATCH coupons, cash, or credit. (Rachel Kim)

Chicago State University, 9501 S. King Dr. Saturday, May 26, noon–2pm. Free. (708) 405-9476. facebook.com/healthyfoodhubchicago

Just in time for Chicago State’s African Liberation Day Conference, Healthy Food Hub will be staging a pop-up market day on campus. For the rest of 2018, the Hub will be distributing produce and other home goods from Chatham Academy High School. (Emeline Posner)

Growing Home’s Summer Block Party

Wood Street Urban Farm, 5814 S. Wood St. to 59th St. Saturday, June 9, 11am-3pm. Free for residents of Greater Englewood. Suggested donation $10 for those living outside of Greater Englewood. (773) 434-7144. growinghomeinc.org

Growing Home Inc. is throwing its annual summer block party at Wood Street Urban Farm, which will provide tours, food, music, children’s’ activities, a bouncy house, and “the best produce Chicago has to offer.” (Rachel Kim)

FOOD & LAND

Parks as Contested Spaces

Arts + Public Life, 301 E. Garfield Blvd. Wednesday, June 6, 6:30pm-8pm. Free. (773) 702-9724. RSVP on bit.ly/parksascontestedspaces

Alongside the “Everyday Resistance: The Art of Living in Black Chicago” exhibit, Arts + Public Life is hosting a conversation with Meida Teresa McNeal, Arts and Culture Manager with the Chicago Park District, and Gia Biagi, Principal of Urbanism and Civil Impact at Studio Gang, to discuss the roles public parks play in their communities and how “use, access, safety, and leisure” shift along racial lines. (Rachel Kim)

Our Journey North

35th Street Pedestrian Bridge (East Side), 636 E. 35th St. Saturday, June 9, 9am–2pm. Breakfast, lunch, garden gloves, and tools provided. Bring bottled water and wear closed-toe shoes. Register at bit.ly/OurJourneyNorth (312) 869-9546. info@sacredkeepers.org

Monarch butterflies, who represent migration, liberation, and beauty, will symbolize the Sacred Keepers Sustainability Lab’s “day rooted in stewardship and cultural celebration.” The Lab is recruiting volunteers to help build a butterfly habitat near the lake that will serve as a communal space for building stronger Black and Latinx communities. (Rachel Kim)

Calumet Wetlands Planting Day

Indian Ridge Marsh, 11600 S. Torrence Ave. Saturday, June 2, 8:30am–noon. (312) 453-0230. Free. Register online. facebook.com/AudubonGreatLakes

Audubon Great Lakes, The Wetlands Initiative, the Chicago Park District and the Illinois Soybean Association invite people to tour 45,000 acres of wetlands in Indian Ridge Marsh, which stretches through southeast Chicago, the south suburbs and Northwest Indiana. Bring water, long pants, long sleeves, work boots, a hat, and the willingness to plant in a wetland habitat threatened by industrialization. (Joseph S. Pete)

El Corn Fest de Pilsen

Pilsen Community Market, 18th St. & Halsted St. (Byline Bank parking lot). Sunday, June 3 and every Sunday through late October, 9am–2pm. bit.ly/el-corn-fest

Mercadito Comunitario de Pilsen, aka Pilsen Community Market, is kicking off its summer season with its Pilsen Corn Fest fundraiser. Come for music, food, desserts, and much more! (Amy Qin)

McKinley Park Farmers Market Opening Day

McKinley Park Farmers Market, 3705 S. Archer Ave. Sunday, June 3, 10am–2pm. facebook.com/MPFM1

At the first McKinley Park Farmers Market day of the year, gear up for a incomparable lineup of vendors, including Yvolina’s Tamales, Quarter Mile Sauce Runnin’ Hot, Sputnik Roasters, Cedillo’s Produce, C&D Family Farms, Tubby’s Taste, John Bailey Honey, and “more to come.” Bring your appetite and a bag for all the fresh produce! (Emeline Posner)

MUSIC

Honky Tonk Night

Co-Prosperity Sphere, 3219 S. Morgan St. Friday, May 25, 7pm–11pm. $5. 21+. (773) 837-0145. Coprosperity.org

Get decked out in your nicest bolo tie and shine your snakeskin boots: it’s Honky Tonk night at the Sphere. Los Gallos, Cass Cwik & Hot Bologna, and St. Marlboro—the finest country musicians in the (mid)West—will hold down this Lumpen Radio benefit. Come with an appetite for “vittles” (that is, sliders). (Christopher Good)

Chicago House Music Festival

Millennium Park, multiple stages. Saturday, May 26, 1pm–9pm. Free. cityofchicago.org

This weekend, the City of Chicago will honor one of its finest cultural exports. There’s something for every house-head—whether you prefer deep house or Chicago house, the festival has stages for both. Highlights include Mike Dunn, Ron Trent, DJ Deeon, Louie Vega’s Elements of Life band, and Chez Damier. (Christopher Good)

ESG

The Promontory, 5311 S. Lake Park Ave. Saturday, May 26, doors 9pm, show 10pm. $24–$38. (312) 801-2100. bit.ly/esg-promontory

It was the conga beat heard ‘round the world. In the early eighties, South Bronx outfit ESG cut their disco and post-punk influences into something new, creating some of the catchiest music before or since. Sample credits don’t pay the bills, as they joked, but concerts do—so stop by and get moody. (Christopher Good)

Mary Ocher (Berlin)/Burning Orchid/Bobby Conn/FIF/Woongi

Archer Ballroom, 3012 S. Archer Ave., #3. Saturday, May 26, doors 7pm, show 7:30pm–11:30pm.

Bridgeport’s Archer Ballroom will host Mary Ocher, a DIY musician from Berlin; Burning Orchid, decolonial Chicago-based performance and sculptural artists; Bobby Conn, a Chicago singer who just released a record he may have called his own “Don Quixote;” the experimental solo project Forced Into Femininity, a self-described “Marxist body horror act;” and Woongi, a Chicago rock band with members with first names all beginning with W. (Rachel Kim)

Soul-Frica Sundays

Renaissance Bronzeville, 4641 S. King Dr. Sundays, 7pm. No cover. (773) 690-5416. renaissancebronzeville.com

End your week right and dance the night away in Bronzeville. Resident DJs Terry Hunter and Greg Winfeld—each with a formidable history in Chicago’s house scene—will spin soul, R&B, and whatever else gets the people moving. (Christopher Good)