Broadway in Chicago updates cancellations due to COVID-19on March 18, 2020 at 8:40 pm

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Broadway in Chicago updates cancellations due to COVID-19

Broadway in Chicago updates cancellations due to COVID-19on March 18, 2020 at 8:40 pm Read More »

Chicago dog owners show off their pups while social distancing at homeon March 18, 2020 at 9:10 pm

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Chicago dog owners show off their pups while social distancing at home

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Chicago dog owners show off their pups while social distancing at homeon March 18, 2020 at 9:10 pm Read More »

Have you thought to disinfect all these things?on March 18, 2020 at 9:42 pm

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Have you thought to disinfect all these things?

Have you thought to disinfect all these things?on March 18, 2020 at 9:42 pm Read More »

Bobby Conn’s new album confronts the cruel delusion of ‘self-help’on March 17, 2020 at 10:10 pm

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With his whip-smart glam-soul jams, Bobby Conn has been blowtorching advertising triplespeak, blind money lust, and corporate fascism for nearly three decades. At this point, he’s undisputedly Chicago’s most subversive rock star! Conn’s new album, Recovery, which drops Friday, March 20, feels awash in brain-fogging wellness-industry detritus–when the plonky new-wave keyboards and robocall narration of “Disposable Future” slide into greasy funk dominated by Monica Boubou’s violin, self-reflection seems like a grand delusion. In the video for lead single “Disaster,” a deranged businessman–one of several characters played by Conn–paints himself as a hero by imagining horrifying hordes waiting outside the doors to tear him apart.

Gossip Wolf has long appreciated locals Matt Jencik and Whitney Johnson for their multitude of projects. Their music is usually engrossingly ruminative and ambient–but both also play in Haley Fohr’s Circuit des Yeux live band, which isn’t ambient at all. On Spacetones, Jencik and Johnson’s debut as Deep Space Duo, they use Ace Tone organs to drift around each other in swirling washes that bring to mind kosmische juggernaut Cluster and early American minimalism a la La Monte Young. To make these spacious songs, says Jencik, “We got together and just jammed to four-track tape. There wasn’t any writing beforehand.”

Last month, arty veteran Chicago hip-hop producer Spectacular Diagnostics dropped the album Raw Unknown, which features verses from some of the best independent MCs in the game, including Quelle Chris, Vic Spencer, and Billy Woods. He’ll also release loosies over the next few weeks to help people wait out the pandemic–he started this past weekend with “Ridin’ (Remix),” a glossier version of the first song he released as Spectacular Diagnostics (both mixes feature Chicago producer-rapper Jeremiah Jae). v

Got a tip? Tweet @Gossip_Wolf or e-mail [email protected].

Bobby Conn’s new album confronts the cruel delusion of ‘self-help’on March 17, 2020 at 10:10 pm Read More »

Sound artist Andy Slater on the spring-into-summer sound of 80s freestyleon March 18, 2020 at 12:20 am

A Reader staffer shares three musical obsessions, then asks someone (who asks someone else) to take a turn.

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Dwight Yoakam on The Whoopi Goldberg Show in 1992 Whoopi Goldberg hosted a late-night talk show in the early 90s, and Dwight Yoakam was among the lucky guests who got to spend the entire half hour with her. The episode was filmed after they’d acted together in Robert Altman’s The Player, and they talk like old friends about drifters, the multicultural origins of country music, and more, punctuated by Yoakam’s songs (with pianist Jerry Peters). I get a chill listening to Dwight sing “If There Was a Way” as the credits roll.

Anthony Elms Absorbs My friend Anthony Elms has kept up a blog since 2009 that lists the titles and names of things he’s watched and/or listened to. He writes on the blog header, “Only hard copy formats listed (no listings for anything ingested digitally and no listings for things I’ve organized or worked on or helped host).” He’s honest about his obsessions, fearlessly posting about yet another listen to the same Joanna Newsom album or the stretch he spent watching Gossip Girl weekly.

Merch by music people for Bernie I’m not here to tell you who to vote for, but this campaign has created a boom of must-have T-shirts. Local collective FeelTrip made a delightful homage to Raymond Pettibon’s Sonic Youth album cover, which I spotted after a local Bernie Sanders appearance. And Asheville’s Ecstatic Praxis came out with a Ravers for Bernie number (black-light reactive with glow-in-the-dark ink) that gave my nightlife wardrobe a kick in the patoot. Ecstatic Praxis and I encourage you to google “RAVE act.”

Salem is curious what’s in the rotation of . . .

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The Rockford Files I got a voice-controlled TV from the pawn shop, so I can say “Play The Rockford Files” and it does. Composer Mike Post is the genius who scored it, combining hackneyed harmonica, Moog portamentos, and Dobro into funky country danger music hip with dissonant French horns. When Jim Rockford’s Firebird peels out to the sound of the drummer’s crashes, it’s as dirty as the stock they shot it on. The episodes with Isaac Hayes treat us to some smooth tracks he cut with Post, and in episode 17 of season three, Hayes and Lou Gossett Jr. trash a Nazi bar ’77 style. It’s the greatest moment in television.

The Isley Brothers, “Fire and Rain” I’m no fan of James Taylor, and I’m sure he says the same about me. But he’s written one great song: “Fire and Rain.” It took the Isleys’ version to prove it, though. Bittersweet James can’t compete with the emotion in Ronald’s voice. He’s on the brink of tears–and so am I, every time it plays. Anxious guitar, tape-delayed cries, and pallbearer chants instantly help you forget who wrote this song. I don’t cry a lot, but when I do it’s with the Isleys.

Shannon, “Let the Music Play” I was going to write about a Hafler Trio live video, but man, it’s no longer cold. What does spring-into-summer mean to me? Freestyle! And my favorite track? Shannon’s “Let the Music Play.” Ever since I saw her on Solid Gold 35 years ago, I’ve been obsessed. The 12-inch dub mix is the finest club extension you’ll ever hear. It’s weird, and it kills whatever New Order song you love. Be still my beating heart.

Andy is curious what’s in the rotation of . . .

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Tasha’s Audiotree Live session Tender musical experiences like this make me feel proud to be from Chicago. Tasha and Audiotree: together, they’re magic. This recent collaboration is sure to touch you in all the deepest places. Audiotree takes great care to capture Tasha and her wickedly talented band, and the result is a robust, transcendent sound. This music gives you permission to listen and feel intimately.

Ariel Zetina, MUAs at the End of the World If the world is ending, my dying wish is that MUAs at the End of the World is played loudly on repeat. Whimsical yet hard, the new EP from Chicago producer and DJ Ariel Zetina is music I’d gladly ingest as civilization comes to a close. Her sound lives in the in-between; she pays tribute to the legacy of the club music that raised her while bringing a fresh and uniquely Ariel sound to the forefront.

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Glenn Underground’s Boiler Room DJ set Sensational and ethereal, this intergalactic deep house music makes your neurons fire in harmonic synchrony. You’re a passenger swimming through a spaceship filled with Jell-O, and south-side house producer and DJ Glenn Underground is captain. An elevated ride throughout time and space, this 2014 live mix brings me energy on my most motionless days. v

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Sound artist Andy Slater on the spring-into-summer sound of 80s freestyleon March 18, 2020 at 12:20 am Read More »

Support service workers with the gig poster of the weekon March 18, 2020 at 11:00 am

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We chose this vintage gig poster because so many present-day concerts are being postponed or canceled in hopes of slowing the spread of COVID-19. Please support the staff of your local music venues if you can–the Reader is maintaining a list of fundraisers here.

ARTIST: Ralph Graham (1901-1980)
SHOW: Illinois Symphony Orchestra at the Great Northern Theatre (at Quincy and Dearborn), most Sundays in 1937
MORE INFO: This article about Ralph Graham describes his history as assistant director and in-house artist at the Brookfield Zoo.

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Support service workers with the gig poster of the weekon March 18, 2020 at 11:00 am Read More »

Chicago Bears: Teammates hint they want Mitchell Trubisky replacedon March 18, 2020 at 1:32 am

Chicago Bears (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)

Amidst all of the free agency craziness, Chicago Bears players appear to want to replace Mitchell Trubisky, according to their social media.

What a day it was in the NFL world. On Day 2 of the free agency frenzy, we saw plenty more deals handed out and several rumors take flight. For the Chicago Bears, it was a much better outcome than Day 1, when they signed an aging Jimmy Graham to a fairly rich contract.

The big move Chicago made on Day 2 included signing experienced pass rusher Robert Quinn to a 5-year, $70 million contract. The former All Pro and multi-Pro Bowl participant joins a pass rush opposite of Khalil Mack, which should be a blast to watch unfold.

While the Quinn signing was terrific, it should also be noted that a couple of Bears players may have hinted at wanting the team to bring in a new quarterback. Maybe, just maybe, some of these players are seeing what many fans see with Mitchell Trubisky — he isn’t the guy.

It all began when return specialist Cordarrelle Patterson began recruiting via his Twitter account.

@teddyb_h2o where you at fam? Asking for a friend!?!?!

— cordarrelle patterson (@ceeflashpee84) March 17, 2020

Patterson reached out to both Teddy Bridgewater and Tom Brady via Twitter, lobbying for their services in a roundabout way. Now, neither one of them landed with the Bears, of course. But, it’s worth noting that Patterson is out there recruiting — serious or not.

Aside from Patterson, wideout Allen Robinson also gave us a subtle hint that he’d like the Bears to take a shot on trading for Cam Newton, who is now allowed to seek a trade from the Carolina Panthers.

Robinson retweeted a post from FanDuel which showed the current odds on favorites to land Newton, in which the Bears were no. 1 on the list.

Oh, and back to Patterson for a moment. He also replied to someone on Twitter throwing Cam’s name out there in connection with the Bears, saying Newton will apparently be ready for training camp. It appears Patterson likes the idea of Chicago landing Newton.

Since Newton was allowed to seek a trade, plenty of outlets have him linked to the Bears. NFL Network had a panel on their show “All Access” which agreed on Chicago being a great spot. Among the panel present were former players Kurt Warner and Maurice Jones-Drew.

Whether or not the Bears go out and get a big name quarterback via trade or free agency, one thing remains very clear at this point: Not every teammate is on board with their quarterback.

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Chicago Bears: Teammates hint they want Mitchell Trubisky replacedon March 18, 2020 at 1:32 am Read More »

Chicago Bears: Grading the signing of Robert Quinnon March 18, 2020 at 11:00 am

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – DECEMBER 05: Mitchell Trubisky #10 of the Chicago Bears breaks away from Robert Quinn #58 of the Dallas Cowboys as he looks for a receiver at Soldier Field on December 05, 2019 in Chicago, Illinois. The Bears defeated the Cowboys 31-24. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)

The Chicago Bears made a splash move on Tuesday morning signing pass rusher Robert Quinn in free agency.

After much speculation about what the Chicago Bears would do to beef up the pass rush, the team made a major move on Tuesday morning when they signed veteran pass rusher Robert Quinn. Just moments after this, multiple reports came out that the Bears were moving on from 2016 first-round pick Leonard Floyd.

In a move that has people scratching their heads, many are wondering, why would the Bears would spend big money at outside linebacker due to the presence of Khalil Mack? Well, let’s break it all down.

First, Quinn will be 30 years old during the 2020 season but he’s been in the NFL since 2016. Compare this to Floyd who was drafted in 2016 but will be 28 years old before the 2020 regular season begins.

Age is one factor but let’s also look at production. In 2019, Quinn had 11.5 sacks, 13 tackles for loss, and 22 quarterback hits. Compare this to Floyd who had 11.5 sacks between from 2017 until 2019. Floyd is also a former top-ten draft pick. If you’re a pass rusher who’s drafted in the top-ten, you should have double-digit sacks each year.

Third, the Bears signed Quinn and released Floyd because they wanted someone who could play opposite Khalil Mack and get after the quarterback. Floyd had trouble winning one-on-one’s in 2019 and the Bears weren’t about to pay him $13.2 million dollars in 2020 to be a mediocre edge rusher again.

The Bears are making this move because the team is also in win-now mode. They released Floyd and then signed Quinn in an effort to make the defense even better. Rather than just cut ties with Floyd and create another major hole that they would have needed to fill, they cut Floyd and signed Quinn to also take pressure off of guys like Khalil Mack and Akiem Hicks.

Overall, this is a signing that the Bears made to give the defense some much needed juice. If general manager Ryan Pace and head coach Matt Nagy really wanted to, they could have figured out a way to lower Floyd’s cap hit and sign him to an extension. However, they opted to go with a player who was more proven than Floyd.

Next: Chicago Bears: What does Robert Quinn signing mean?

As the Bears offseason continues, there’s going to be a lot to monitor. However, Quinn is a signing that has the fanbase split. Signing Quinn is also the second biggest move that the Bears will make this offseason, right behind whatever the Bears do at quarterback.

Grade: B+

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Chicago Bears: Grading the signing of Robert Quinnon March 18, 2020 at 11:00 am Read More »

In Whiteout Conditions, grief permeates the past and presenton March 17, 2020 at 7:00 pm

Ant loves funerals. He doesn’t have family left, so when he goes to funerals, he no longer fixates on the deceased. Instead, he’s fascinated by the minute observations of each spectacle: “The whole show–the bouquets and black-out drapes, the living room chapels, the organs droning out dirges to drum machine beats, the discount casket coupons thumbtacked by the phone, padlocked basement door–none of it is morbid, to me, anymore.”

Tariq Shah’s Whiteout Conditions (Two Dollar Radio) is not a quick read. Shah reminds you that even though he’s written a novel, he’s still a poet. Reading it is like floating down a river made of dark molasses, cycling consistently, and yet hampering your movement enough to let you sit in it, to feel cloaked in heaviness. Whiteout Conditions explores how nostalgia and toxic masculinity operate (and fail) as a conduit for grief.

This midwestern noir takes place in the Chicago burbs and Wisconsin, and follows Ant as he joins his friend from home, Vince, on a snowy drive to Wisconsin to mourn the death of Vince’s younger cousin, Ray. When Ant hears of Ray’s death, he sees it on the news; the freak accident was bad enough to make its way to New York, where he now lives. After hearing about it, Ant calls Vince and insists on coming to the funeral. Vince doesn’t seem invested in Ant coming, and it feels like Ant is begging to go because he wants a reason to visit home.

When Vince picks him up at O’Hare, the exchanges between the two are awkward. They lost touch after Ant left, and Ant finds that he really doesn’t know Vince; he only has the version of Vince that crystallized in his recollection. After the funeral, they make a pit stop to visit Ant’s childhood home, which is now a parking lot. Ant is surprised and emotional, and Vince mocks his naivety. “Home is where the heart is, Ant. Nobody tell you?” Through Ant, we find ourselves wiggling in the limitations of nostalgia. It’s impossible to experience home the way that he wants to experience it. He can’t connect with anyone from his past, especially not when they’re in the throes of grief. At the funeral, Ray’s mom, Marcy, has a breakdown. He and Vince arrive at Ray’s parents’ home after the funeral, and Ant struggles through a conversation with Dan, Ray’s dad. He narrates: “I’m not sure what else to do, nor am I sure whether Dan expects a different sort of performance of grief.” He reverts to small talk about the weather and traffic, and doesn’t ask about Marcy. Sure, Ant loves funerals, but only when he can sideline the discomfort. Coming home involves a discomfort that feels like an ambush, and his response is to deflect.

Some old patterns do hold up, but flimsily. Ant and Vince relate most when ribbing each other and engaging in playful physical violence, like they did when they were young. The book’s exploration of toxic masculinity comes through the combination of a conversational tone and carefully constructed description, which are restrained by emotional repression. Complicated emotions are packaged into quick-moving small talk. In their first conversation in person in years, Vince tells Ant, “We think you’re embarrassed by us. We think you’re ashamed.” When Ant asks who “we” means and why he’s bringing it up, he responds, “Just making conversation. We got a ways to go still and I thought–what better time to drill down to the heart of things?”

Ant doesn’t make space for his feelings outwardly without detachment. It isn’t until he and Vince stop at a motel for a night, and go to bed, that Ant ruminates in his grief. He mourns an ex, but only under the anonymity of nighttime. Vince expresses his grief through emotional outbursts, which are often hazy and fueled by painkillers. His attempt to find closure after Ray’s death takes a disturbing turn, and Ant makes a decision that brings his barely-hanging-on friendship with Vince to a boil.

Shah captures Ant’s world of performing masculinity, and points out the way that performance falters when entering a home that no longer belongs to you. Whiteout Conditions tantalizes the reader with the prospect of breaking Ant’s emotional tethers, which peeks through the fault lines of the restrained language. Instead, we leave with the lingering familiarity of Ant’s hometown, which feels both soothing and ominous, frozen in time. Ant’s pining for the past doesn’t work for him. But in a historical moment like this one, where everything is uncertain and terrifying, it’s a relief to dip into the sweet and sad nostalgia of a preserved memory of Chicagoland past. v

In Whiteout Conditions, grief permeates the past and presenton March 17, 2020 at 7:00 pm Read More »

Kimberly Dowdell builds equity in architectureon March 17, 2020 at 7:20 pm

Kimberly Dowdell looks down at her
iPhone, which blasts red app badges and notifications from a cluttered screen. She has thousands of messages, e-mails, and calls that beg her attention, but she merely smiles at them and closes her phone case. The 36-year-old architect and director is used to it by now.

Dowdell is a senior principal at Chicago’s HOK architect firm, where she is settling into her new role as the director of business development, which began last May. Her life is bubbling with many other firsts, too: she is the first millennial president of the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA), started two new programs under the organization to boost diversity, and led its largest conference in history that saw a 60 percent increase in membership. She is a new cochair of her company’s diversity advisory council and in February, she won the Young Architects Award from the American Institute of Architects (AIA) for her leadership and contributions in creating a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive industry for women and architects of color. It’s her career’s mission, and it’s reaching new heights in 2020.

“It’s a real honor to have received that award,” Dowdell says. “I didn’t apply for it in an effort to make myself feel good about the work that I’ve done. It was more so because [I am] NOMA president. I really wanted to elevate the organization and promote what we’re doing.”

Dowdell started at Cornell University, where she cofounded the Social Economic Environmental Design (SEED) Network in 2005 during an internship with the chief architect of the General Services Administration. Then she worked at HOK in New York City from 2008 to 2011. Since taking over as NOMA president in January 2019, Dowdell has created the NOMA President’s Circle, a team of diversity, equity, and inclusion consultants who work with firms wanting to expand their diversity, a request that has come to Dowdell from many, she says. She also founded the NOMA Foundation Fellowship, which starts this summer and provides internship experience to students in leading firms around the country.

“We really need to create greater pathways into the profession and greater access to our K through 12 students, our college and graduate students, our licensure candidates, [and] support them through that process,” she says.

These are part of her big goals for the nearly 50-year-old organization, which has 1,400 members as of 2020–but Dowdell’s aim is to reach 2,000 more members and 3,000 new students by October, when NOMA hosts its annual conference. Dowdell has no time to mess around, and that’s the way she likes it.

“We’re a serious organization that is committed to increasing diversity in the profession, and we need help,” she says. “We need everyone to join us.”

The architecture industry, predominantly white and cisgendered, is slowly changing. AIA has increased its representation in members in recent years, and the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB), a community of architects, educators, and experts, reported in 2019 that 50 percent of new architects working toward their license were women and 46 percent identified as an ethnic or racial minority. Two in five new architects are women, and the racial and gender divide closes more in early-career stages than before, per the NCARB.

That’s good news for Dowdell, but it’s not enough. With only about two percent of Black architects in an industry of 115,000 U.S. architects, the “needle needs to be moved” on the representation to accurately mirror the community it serves, she says. NOMA and AIA have partnered to fix that problem by creating the 2030 Diversity Challenge: to double the number of licensed architects who are African American by 2030.

“Creating access to the profession for people who are generally less positioned to enter the profession makes it better for everyone,” she says, referencing her own career.

Dowdell is known in the architectural community not only for her NOMA involvement but also with work that goes back more than a decade. SEED, the network she formed in 2005, is now a global movement that sets standards for economic, social, and environmental justice for design projects and has more than 2,000 pledged members today. She also started HOK IMPACT in 2010 when she worked at its New York City office, one of the profession’s first corporate social responsibility programs.

During her time in NYC, she met Natalia Lombardi, her friend and colleague who joined the firm’s diversity advisory council shortly after it began in 2013. Lombardi, who has known Dowdell since 2008, says while she has seen progress for women in leadership in her own firm in her 17 years at HOK, the industry still lacks women of color in senior roles. “For women to feel encouraged and stay in the workplace, they need to be able to see women like them on that path ahead,” Lombardi says.

She calls Dowdell a “phenomenal example” of a leader filling that gap. Dowdell’s honesty, sincerity, and openness to challenges are what draw people to her leadership style, Lombardi says.

Dowdell’s efforts in making the industry more inclusive have left her with little time to explore Chicago’s neighborhood culture. However, she got to know Little Village through a recent study by HOK aimed at spurring economic and commercial development with community partners in the neighborhood, a nod to the design skills that began her career. She hopes to have more time for similar community projects but is also happily challenged with what’s on her phone notification list to keep her busy.

“We’re excited about the growth and the energy people have about increasing diversity,” Dowdell says. “Literally our student population looks like the United Nations. It’s really refreshing that these young people from all over the country, even the world, are all-in for NOMA.'” v

Kimberly Dowdell builds equity in architectureon March 17, 2020 at 7:20 pm Read More »

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Amidst all of the free agency craziness, Chicago Bears players appear to want to replace Mitchell Trubisky, according to their social media.

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Grade: B+