Tag: Vol. 52 No. 4
Issue of November 24, 2022
Finding euphoria
gods closet hosts monthly pop-ups that offer free clothing and a safe space for gender expression.
by Debbie-Marie Brown
Nonprofit Guide online
Special annual insert inside! Included in the full issue PDF and also available as a separate PDF download: Chicago Reader Nonprofit Guide 2022
On the cover: Photo by Aarij Abbas. For more of Abbas’s work, go to @aarijabbas_photography on Instagram.
Find a print copy of the Reader.
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Posted inStreet View
Family style
Alanna Zaritz, 39, was born and raised in Chicago and is one of our city’s treasures. She is a familiar, welcoming, and eye-catching figure at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (MCA), where she has worked since 2005 (she’s currently the MCA’s store manager). Zaritz’s awe for her hometown is contagious, and very handy, since […]
Posted inMusic
White Lung end their career with rebirth on Premonition
It’s always rare to see a band graduate from DIY rabble-rousers to PTA presidents, especially when they start out as legendarily raucous as Vancouver punks White Lung. Who knew that a decade after front woman Mish Barber-Way sang “Steel-toed boots / Smash rubber chains” on “Thick Lips,” she’d be a mother of two waxing poetic […]
Posted inMusic
Black Ox Orkestar return after 15 years to explore modern socio-political strife though Jewish diasporic traditions
The Yiddish language originated in the 900s and peaked in the early 1940s with around 11 million speakers, primarily in Europe’s Ashkenazi Jewish communities. But of the six million Jewish people murdered by the Nazis during World War II, 85 percent of them were Yiddish speakers. Just as the worldwide Jewish population has not yet […]
Posted inMusic
The Soft Moon continues to hammer out industrial darkwave misery
“I’m starting to turn into someone else . . . again,” moans Luis Vasquez on “Monster,” from his latest album as the Soft Moon, Exister (Sacred Bones). It’s true that Vasquez, who’d been holed up in Berlin during the pandemic, moved to Joshua Tree to record this effort. But whatever else might’ve changed about him, […]
Sponsored
Jane Addams Resource Corporation offers free training and job placement
A skilled worker in the manufacturing industry can anticipate a lifetime of financial stability in a vibrant, in-demand field. But for many, getting the necessary training and education to launch a career in the trades can be daunting, and even cost prohibitive. The folks at Jane Addams Resource Corporation know there’s no time like the […]
Posted inStaff notes
Editor’s note: I remember
The who’s who of local journalism gathered recently at the Newberry Library for the 83rd annual Chicago Journalists Association awards. As the organization’s first in-person ceremony since the pandemic took its grip, a buoyant feeling was in the air (aided perhaps by an open bar), as Chicago journalists rocked their finest duds (props to Sun-Times […]
Posted inArts & Culture
What Paul Moses Taught
Mike Moses never knew his father, Paul Bell Moses. For the most part, he was afraid to ask about him. He knew about his father’s remarkable life in broad strokes. For example, he knew Moses—the first African American student admitted to Haverford College, a protege of the eminent art collector Albert Barnes, and later a […]
Posted inMusic
Chicago band the O’My’s make effortless, magical soul
The O’My’s sound like a band reincarnated from generations ago, as if they were dreamed up by a kid who knows too much about their grandparents’ past. How do they do it? Wisdom, skill, poise, restraint, and hazy fun pepper their music and demeanor. Their members may have been born after the “boomer” generation, but […]
Posted inMusic
Special Interest infuse punk and disco with hard-hitting social themes
New Orleans punk band Special Interest have been blowing wigs back since 2018, when they dropped their debut record, Spiraling, a chaotic romp through hard-hitting social themes and wildly divergent musical directions. On “Young, Gifted, Black, in Leather” the sentiment is self-explanatory, yet the mighty wails of vocalist Alli Logout peel back new layers of […]
Posted inMusic
The Gilgamanians and Maku Sica celebrate new records from distant points on the spectrum of improvisation
The Gilgamanians and Maku Sica (formerly Mako Sica) sound profoundly different from each other, but these two local ensembles share a commitment to using improvisation to tap into ideas they would never find any other way. The Gilgamanians are percussionist Michael Zerang and shortwave-radio operator Don Meckley. This is the duo’s first concert, but their […]
Sponsored
Celebrate Andersonville’s eclectic independent businesses community this holiday season
Held on the first Saturday after Thanksgiving (this year November 26), Small Business Saturday celebrates independent business owners during the bustling holiday season. Shopping local is an easy way for anyone to support independent businesses and help neighborhoods thrive, and in Chicago, one of the best places to get in on the fun is Andersonville. […]
Posted inChicago Reader Nonprofit Guide
Chicago Reader Nonprofit Guide 2022
A joint project with Executive Service Corps, this guide includes 501(c)(3) nonprofits, fiscally sponsored grassroots, arts, media, and other organizations, and some social enterprises.
Posted inChicago Reader Nonprofit Guide
Arts & Culture
Chicago Reader Nonprofit Guide: A joint project with Executive Service Corps
Posted inMusic
The accidental TikTok star
Sonny had spent years making music for an audience of himself when he began to understand that other people liked it too. The Chicago rapper can pinpoint a few key moments: At a party he went to in 2019, the crowd was dead, and his manager at the time commandeered the sound system to throw […]