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Saxophonist Michael Blake deserves to be heard by a wider audience
The jazz world is filled with immensely skilled musicians who spend most of their careers in relative anonymity because they never manage to establish a truly original voice. They may be peerless...
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White Mystery play a Black Friday show at Red Line Tap tonight
Whether you spent Black Friday hiding from shoppers or joining them in the fray (or reminding them that there are more important things to think about than deals on merchandise), the hours after the...
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Drinking the Kool-Aid at Owen + Alchemy in Logan Square
Assuming you're not running with the bulls today at Target or Walmart, your priority might be to do something to offset yesterday's hours of holiday excess. And to that end maybe you're considering a...
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Ten top picks for holiday cheer
Theater, parties, markets, and more to add to your holiday calendar. The holiday season starts earlier and earlier—Chicago has already had two tree-lighting ceremonies, for Saint Nick’s sake—but the...
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Well-dressed women celebrate Mag Mile style
Street View is a fashion series in which Isa Giallorenzo spotlights some of the coolest styles seen in Chicago.The Chicago History Museum's Costume Council is commemorating its 40th anniversary by...
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Mockingjay—Part 1 is the most cynical Hunger Games yet
In The Hunger Games: Mockingjay—Part 1, a rebel becomes a pawn of the revolution. by Ben Sachs The Hunger Games: Mockingjay—Part 1 features the most self-reflexive sequence of any Hollywood...
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Chicago man says corporate risk management is more dangerous than it sounds
A first-person account from off the beaten track, as told to Anne Ford."Allan Pinkerton founded the Pinkerton Detective Agency back in 1850 right here in Chicago. We were basically the original Secret...
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The five best Pixar films (yes, it includes at least one Toy Story)
This weekend, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, as part of their ongoing "CSO at the Movies" series, performed the scores from select Pixar movies. Films made by the venerable animation studio have a...
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A Matchbox bartender inserts spotted dick into a creamy cocktail recipe
Challenged by Eric Houser of Parson's Chicken & Fish to create a cocktail with spotted dick, Graham Courter of the Matchbox first had to locate the British steamed suet pudding. While he could have...
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Native Son v. The Warmth of Other Suns: Greatest Chicago Book round one
This winter, the Reader has set a humble goal for itself: to determine the Greatest Chicago Book Ever Written. We chose 16 books that reflected the wide range of books that have come out of Chicago and...
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Sheriff Dart comes to the Hideout on Tuesday!
As part of our effort to bridge all geographical divisions, Mick and I will be bringing Sheriff Tom Dart—a politician from the southwest side—to our First Tuesdays show at the Hideout, a bar on the...
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Did you read about Serial, Black Friday, and Chris Rock?
Reader staffers share stories that fascinate, amuse, or inspire us.Hey, did you read:• About the five leaders who failed Ferguson?…[ Read more ][ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]
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Norway's In the Country and Frida Ånnevik produce gorgeous, languid pop balladry
In this week's paper I have a preview running for the Norwegian instrumental trio Ballrogg, who perform Saturday evening at Constellation. The bassist and structural anchor in that group is Roger...
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The city cracks down on underground chef Julia Pham
I wanted to have lunch with Julia Pham of Relish Underground Dining for two reasons. One, because she had just gotten a citation from the city, which had led her to announce that she was no longer...
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Horrible Bosses 2 has a lot to say about degradation—and almost none of it's...
Warning: This post contains spoilers.In a pivotal sequence in Horrible Bosses 2, which opened commercially this week, Nick (Jason Bateman), Kurt (Jason Sudeikis), and Dale (Charlie Day)—a sort of...
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Penrose Brewing achieves infinitely self-similar deliciousness with Fractal
Penrose Brewing's bottle rollout, which began this summer with four-packs of P-2 and Proto Gradus, has been a little spotty so far—not that I've been keeping a logbook, but it feels like months since...
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The University of Chicago unveils rare French illustrations of World War I
"En Guerre" shows how artists and illustrators motivated a nation to keep fighting. by Aimee Levitt This year marks the 100th anniversary of the start of World War I, and several local institutions...
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How a grandmother's 1950s friendship with a gay photographer wound up on a...
Sometimes, like the trumpets on Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire," great art is born of dreams. But other times it's happenstance—you throw back one too many glasses of champagne with your grandma, and the...
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DJ Slugo's public housing past resonates on the Nicolas Jaar collaboration...
Yesterday electronic wunderkind Nicolas Jaar debuted "Ghetto," an exultant eight-minute house track featuring vocals from Chicago ghetto house and juke producer Thomas Kendricks, better known as DJ...
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A hearty helping of irreverence—and pasta—at the Charlatan
The folks behind Three Aces take over West Town Tavern. by Mike Sula There's a sign that hangs prominently above the kitchen window in the back of the Charlatan, the new West Town Italian joint from...
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