The low-key pop perfection of "Royals"
I came late to "Royals" by 16-year-old New Zealander pop sensation Lorde, but after finally hearing it a few weeks ago I made up for lost time by listening to it in bulk, sometimes four or five times...
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'The word "free" doesn't enter into my vocabulary'
Andre Davis was more than 20 years into a murder sentence when DNA evidence tied another man to the crime scene. by Jordan Michael Smith Part two of two. Read part one here.…[ Read more ][ Subscribe...
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Afternoon Delight mines Eric Rohmer territory—with a little more raunch and...
Jill Soloway's Afternoon Delight mines Eric Rohmer territory—with a little more raunch and lot more compassion. by Andrea Gronvall A couple's marriage is edging toward collapse when they try to reboot...
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At the 25th annual Onion City Experimental Film and Video Festival, every...
The 25th annual Onion City Experimental Film and Video Festival shows the overlap between narrative and avant-garde cinema. by Ben Sachs Film critics rarely refer to narrative movies when writing...
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Gossip Wolf: Cassette Store Day is definitely silly but might be fun
Gossip Wolf: Two fun Cassette Store Day events to distract you from the nonexistence of "cassette stores," a second LP for dark dance-rock duo Post Honeymoon, and more. by J.R. Nelson and Leor Galil...
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The Secret History of Chicago Music: Vyto B
The scoop on Vyto B, the eclectic enigma behind First Chips and Tricentennial 2076—straight from the man himself by Plastic Crimewave[ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]
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"Little" LED billboards, big nuisance
As "little" LED billboards continue to flash all over the city, an ordinance addressing them is stalled in committee. by Deanna Isaacs I'm in Heidi Massa's Lincoln Park apartment, 31 stories up. It's...
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Reader's Agenda Wed 9/4: Movies in the Park, Flume, and Berghoff Oktoberfest
Looking for something to do today? Agenda's got you covered:Just when you thought you'd seen every laughably bad (read: great) movie from the late 80s and early 90s, you realize that in 1990—in the...
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Gig poster of the week: Dan Vapid goes to the moon
ARTIST: Riccardo BucchioniSHOW: Dan Vapid & the Cheats, Parasites, the Connection, and Enders at Cobra Lounge on 8/3MORE INFO:riccardobucchioni.com[ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]
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The art-gallery bar: A bright idea?
The art-gallery bar is a questionable concept that pairs art appreciation with bar-level lighting, things you could argue don't pair all that well. Two such places have opened in recent months: Gallery...
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Remembering Rodney Kyles Jr., aka rapper In Rod We Lust
Yesterday marked the two-year anniversary of the death of Rodney Kyles Jr., a philosophy student at Roosevelt and an aspiring MC who rapped under the name In Rod We Lust. Kyles was 19 when he was...
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In Laurence Anyways, love anyways
Xavier Dolan's drama Love Anyways explores the fallout when a heterosexual man loves a woman—and is one. by Andrea Gronvall Lushly romantic and defiantly original, French-Canadian writer-director...
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What a tangled web: Victor Alexander's Line of Sighs
What a tangled web: Victor Alexander's Line of Sighs. by Laura Molzahn The set for Victor Alexander's Line of Sighs is genius. One glance at the precisely arrayed bungee cords tells you the piece is...
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Did you read about Dwight Eisenhower, Safe Passage, and Ariel Castro?
Reader staffers share stories that fascinate, amuse, or inspire us.Hey, did you read:• Teju Cole's parody of Max Fisher's "9 questions about Syria you were too embarrassed to ask," in which he imagines...
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Dark times in light opera
With "Operetta in Exile," Chicago Folks Operetta celebrates composers and librettists whose livelihoods—and lives—were threatened by Nazism. by Albert Williams In the first two decades of the 20th...
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What happened to A Raisin in the Sun
Lorraine Hansberry's 1959 masterpiece, A Raisin in the Sun, is still a potent indictment. by Zac Thompson"Seem like God didn't see fit to give the black man nothing but dreams," someone says in A...
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12 O'Clock Track: "I Think of Demons," a Roky Erickson classic back in print
Yesterday Seattle's Light in the Attic label released The Evil One, a sterling 15-track album that compiles the tracks Texas psych-rock legend Roky Erickson recorded in the late 70s and released on a...
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The Reader's Fall Cocktail Challenge
The Reader's Fall Cocktail Challenge: An autumnal mixologist mash up of 20 creative libations. Sample them October 4! An autumnal mixologist mash up October 4 | 6-8:30 PM | State and Lake Chicago...
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Width and without, part three; or, how close is too close for comfort?
I find closeups of actors' faces to be the most consistently disappointing images of recent movies shot in wide-screen. Since few faces are that much wider than they are tall, a wide-screen closeup...
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Parents are the worst: A fall TV preview
Attempting to figure out why some sitcoms survive while others just never catch on strikes me as a real fool's errand. For instance, Two and a Half Men, which was recently renewed for an 11th season.…[...
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