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Revisiting the Paisley Underground sounds of the Three O'Clock
One of the first musical scenes that I felt belonged only to me—as a high school student growing up in a Philadelphia suburb in the early 80s—was the Paisley Underground, a silly neo-psychedelic...
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Chord's only performance of 2013 features more than one chord
Experimental drone collective Chord, featuring Pelican's Trevor de Brauw, will be playing their only show of the year tomorrow night at the Burlington, where they'll be deviating from their typical,...
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Ryan McCaskey isn't just a Michelin-starred burger guy, damn it
The good news for Ryan McCaskey is that his restaurant, Acadia, a fine dining pioneer on the near south side, still gets publicity after 20 months in business. He just has to be philosophical about...
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Key Ingredient: Thai Dang of Embeya puts an Asian spin on maguey leaves
Thai Dang of Embeya puts an Asian spin on maguey leaves, aka agave leaves. by Julia Thiel The Chef: Thai Dang (Embeya) The Challenger: Andres Padilla (Topolobampo) The Ingredient: Maguey leaf The...
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You should listen to Raw Geronimo's "Magnetic Love"
Ever since the Arcade Fire popped off there have been a lot of bands straining to achieve the kind of majestic-but-humble, emotionally cathartic transcendental vibe that gets your music placed in...
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Mayor Rahm takes a TIF poll!
As anyone who attends, works in, or sends their children to a public school can tell you, there are two worlds when it comes to public education in Chicago. There's the world of Mayor Emanuel's...
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This week's Chicagoan: TD Roe, competitive shooter and firearms instructor
This week's Chicagoan is TD Roe, competitive shooter and firearms instructor. by Anne Ford A first-person account from off the beaten track, as told to Anne Ford. "My sister and I were attacked when...
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Reader's Agenda Fri 8/9: Abbie Hoffman Died for Our Sins, Out of Site, and...
Looking for something to do today? Agenda's got you covered:It's been 25 years since Abbie Hoffman left us and Mary-Arrchie Theatre started its annual Abbie Hoffman Died for Our Sins Theatre...
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Great popular art, past and present, and the rest of this week's movies
I know it's just a coincidence, but it feels appropriate that Johnnie To's Drug War is opening in Chicago on the same weekend that a series of newly restored Alfred Hitchcock films comes through town....
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Hey, 'BEZ: Jonathan Abarbanel is the new American Theatre Critics Association...
Now that Chicago Public Media's WBEZ is casting around for what it should be after parting ways with longtime station manager and CEO Torey Malatia last month, maybe it'll bring back some of the good...
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In praise of the Chicago Tribune's Christopher Borrelli
There was a birthday party for me last weekend at our place in Michigan, and one of the invited guests who couldn't make it was Alison True, the former editor of the Reader. She sent word that the...
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Did you read about Hedy Weiss, Curtis Flowers, and Breaking Bad?
Reader staffers share stories that fascinate, amuse, or inspire us.Hey, did you read:• What the artistic director of Silk Road Rising has to say about Hedy Weiss's controversial review of his show...
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12 O'Clock Track: "Leave" is lush, heavy shoegaze from a former Deafheaven...
Whirr is a band out of San Francisco that was founded by former Deafheaven guitarist Nick Bassett. Deafheaven has been on a lot of people's radars lately, catching a bunch of attention for blending...
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On Mineral and midwestern emo's second wave
I just belatedly read Leor Galil's B-Side cover story about the fourth wave of emo that's currently bubbling up from basements around the country (and elsewhere on the globe), and if you haven't yet...
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Dave Michalowski, bartender . . . and licensed therapist
If you should feel the need to cry over your beer (or vieux carre, as the case may be), you might want to check out the lounge at Graham Elliot Bistro (aka GEB). That's the domain of Dave Michalowski,...
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In Rotation: Jeanine O'Toole of Bare Mutants on how to commemorate Jerry...
Current musical obsessions of Bare Mutants vocalist Jeanine O'Toole, and Eternals front man Damon Locks by Miles Raymer Miles Raymer, Reader staff writer Friendzone, DX James Laurence and Dylan...
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A classic album by the John Carter & Bobby Bradford Quartet gets the proper...
Jonathan Horwich, the fellow behind the superb Chicago jazz reissue label International Phonograph, cut his teeth in the jazz record biz while he lived in Los Angeles beginning in the late 60s, where...
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Lao 18: It ain't Chinatown anymore
Tony Hu's latest might be the best Chinese restaurant in River North, but it's the worst in his empire. by Mike Sula Usually when Tony Hu opens a restaurant it's an occasion to celebrate. Either the...
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Assembling a picture of Chicago, neighborhood by neighborhood
"It feels like in Chicago, there's such a strong sense of neighborhood identification," says Rachel Hyman, editor of the website Anthology of Chicago and a resident of Hyde Park. "You say the name of a...
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Scouring the suburbs for the real Japanese
I'd been hearing ominous rumblings from agents in the field about the demise of Tori Shin, one of a handful of legitimate Japanese izakayas out in the northwest burbs, but it wasn't till I read John...
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