What’s New

Born of the Fireside Bowl hardcore scene, local trio Sweet Cobra have become synonymous with heavy music in Chicago over the past two decades—but they’ve also evolved every step of the way. They started off as a fairly typical early-aughts doomy hardcore act, and though they’ve shifted away from hardcore with proggy, sludgy, and melodic forays, they’ve consistently delivered tunes with their signature pummeling attack. On their brand-new fifth album, Threes, bassist and vocalist Tim Remis, guitarist Robert “Grumpy” Lanham, and drummer Jason Gagovski (who’s releasing the record on his Hawthorne Street label) have landed somewhere in the middle of their earlier work and at the same time far beyond anything they’ve created before. They’ve all but done away with straightforward melodic hardcore, and now they’re interpreting their usual heaviness through layers of lush tones and waves of warm guitar rather than a cacophonous wall of distortion. And when they add elements of dreamy shoegaze, sky-high space rock, earthy Americana, and blissed-out alternative rock, you could describe Threes as “post-everything.” My favorite thing about the record is also what surprised me the most—it’s incredibly catchy. Sweet Cobra will never be a pop band, but here they get pretty damn close. Twenty years into their career, they’re still reinventing themselves, and on Threes the payoff is the best yet.

  Sweet Cobra’s Threes is available on Bandcamp.

Read More

Born of the Fireside Bowl hardcore scene, local trio Sweet Cobra have become synonymous with heavy music in Chicago over the past two decades—but they’ve also evolved every step of the way. They started off as a fairly typical early-aughts doomy hardcore act, and though they’ve shifted away from hardcore with proggy, sludgy, and melodic forays, they’ve consistently delivered tunes with their signature pummeling attack. On their brand-new fifth album, Threes, bassist and vocalist Tim Remis, guitarist Robert “Grumpy” Lanham, and drummer Jason Gagovski (who’s releasing the record on his Hawthorne Street label) have landed somewhere in the middle of their earlier work and at the same time far beyond anything they’ve created before. They’ve all but done away with straightforward melodic hardcore, and now they’re interpreting their usual heaviness through layers of lush tones and waves of warm guitar rather than a cacophonous wall of distortion. And when they add elements of dreamy shoegaze, sky-high space rock, earthy Americana, and blissed-out alternative rock, you could describe Threes as “post-everything.” My favorite thing about the record is also what surprised me the most—it’s incredibly catchy. Sweet Cobra will never be a pop band, but here they get pretty damn close. Twenty years into their career, they’re still reinventing themselves, and on Threes the payoff is the best yet.

  Sweet Cobra’s Threes is available on Bandcamp.

Read More

Tomorrow, the Chicago Cubs can officially agree to terms with free agents, as the MLB free agency period opens up.

After finishing the 2022 regular season well, the Cubs go into their offseason with hope to carry on the momentum into next season, especially if they are able to add some notable talent.

By all accounts, that’s exactly what the Cubs are poised to do. From what we know, Jed Hoyer has said he plans to “be aggressive” while “spending wisely” during the free agency period.

The aggressiveness could come almost immediately, too, as MLB insider Bruce Levine reported on 670 The Score. According to Levine, the Cubs have a pair of notable names on their radar: first baseman Jose Abreu and starting pitcher Corey Kluber.

This could be a different MLB offseason for the Chicago Cubs, as fans may see aggressiveness from the get-go.

For starters, Abreu is not an unfamiliar name to Chicagoans. Of course, Abreu has spent his entire Major League career with the Chicago White Sox, which started all the way back in 2014. The 35-year-old is unlikely to return to the Sox, per Levine, and the Cubs will be in on him right away.

The 3-time All Star would give the Cubs some added hitting, although he did hit a career-low 15 home runs last season. Still, the Cubs’ lineup needs a boost in the middle of the order and that is just what Abreu could provide them.

Meanwhile, Kluber is not an unfamiliar name to Cubs fans, either.

The 2-time Cy Young winner faced those World Series Champion Cubs back in the prime of his career, where Kluber made three-straight All Star Games. The 36-year-old righty has notched 18 or more wins in four separate seasons over his lengthy career, but over the past few years has dipped in production.

Last season, though, Kluber enjoyed a bit of a resurgence in Tampa Bay. Over the 2022 season, the veteran won 10 games, pitched 164.0 innings (his most since 2018) and posted an ERA of 4.34.

Kluber struck out 139 while walking just 21 batters last year, as well.

He doesn’t have a whole lot longer ahead of him, but Kluber could give the Cubs another solid arm within their rotation and would be a nice signing to kick off free agency.

Read More

Today through Saturday, the Pilsen-based ceramic studio Gnarware Workshop hosts the Empty Bowls Fundraiser and Soup Service. Visit their webstore to purchase an empty ceramic bowl made by a local artist. Proceeds go directly to local food pantries and Love Fridges to provide food in time for Thanksgiving. Prices start at $7, and all bowls are food-safe. Pick up your new dinnerware between noon and 3 PM on 11/12 at UIC’s Gallery 400 (400 S. Peoria). While you’re there, you can take your new bowl(s) for a test drive with free soup provided by chefs from Kimski, DönerMen, and the Abundance Setting, coordinated by Community Kitchen, a food service for in-need people organized by Public Media Institute. Alternative pick-up arrangements can be made for those who can’t make it Saturday. Sadly, there are no alternative arrangements for free soup. (MC)

Listen in: here are some concerts tonight with links to past coverage by our music writers:

Guitarist and frequent collaborator Reno Cruz opens for Smooth Rogers tonight at Golden Dagger, with local band M.E.H. also on the bill (8 PM, 2447 N. Halsted, $10, 21+, tickets at Ticketweb).
Jazz pianist Fred Hersch brings his trio to SPACE in Evanston tonight (8 PM, 1245 Chicago Ave., Evanston, $20, all-ages, tickets at Eventbrite).
Folk-rock band Devotchka play at City Winery this evening (8 PM, 1200 W. Randolph, $28-$42, all-ages, tickets at the venue’s website).
Califone performs tonight at Judson and Moore Distillery, with BCMC (Cooper Crain and Bill MacKay) opening (8 PM, 3057 N. Rockwell, Building Five, $25, 21+, tickets at Eventbrite).

With the holidays on the horizon, it’s important to remember our friends behind bars. Whether you’re putting together annual holiday cards or looking to spread a little extra cheer, send some mail to someone inside this season. For anyone who signs up, Sex Workers Outreach Project (SWOP) will provide ten names and addresses of incarcerated sex workers in need of holiday cheer. The LGBTQ+ prison abolition project Black and Pink has great tips on corresponding with people in prison, and you can even sign up for a regular pen pal–or just someone to send a holiday card to. (MC)

Tonight at 8 PM, the First Nations Film and Video Festival wraps up its in-person events for the season with a screening of Once Upon a Time in Huasco Alto (Érase Una Vez en el Huasco Alto), a 2021 Chilean film directed by Polo Cortés and José Guerrero Urzua. The film is a mix of four stories that take place in northern Chile, informed by emotion, music, local identity, and myth. The screening is free to attend at Comfort Station (2579 N. Milwaukee), and more information about the festival is available at the their website. (SCJ)

Read More

Texas was once Mexican. Texas is Mexican again this November 14 when Heffer BBQ returns to Monday Night Foodball, the Reader’s weekly chef pop-up at the Kedzie Inn in Irving Park.

I’m sure you remember back in September, the last time someone parked a 500-gallon offset smoker outside the bar and the sweet haze of smoked meat wafted over the streets. Shawn Smith and Leonor Quezeda, with their smoked chicken tinga tostada, were a critical part of the sorcerers’ cabal that lured a steady column of salivating, red-eyed flesh eaters that helplessly followed its narcotic scent through the doors.

The married duo got their start during the pandemic with a small Costco smoker in their Pilsen backyard, but their synergy of Mexican and central Texas-style barbecue quickly became a weekly presence in the brewery pop-up arena. 

This week they and their 14-foot smoker Pauline are headlining MNF, with a heaping preview of what’s to come at their December residency at Kimski. That means brisket and pork-belly smoked Italian meatballs in marinara; smo-fried chicken wings or baby back ribs, chips and Hatch-chili queso dip (add brisket!); and for the plant eaters, a kale salad (hold the smoked beef tallow croutons)—plus Quezada’s scratch banana pudding.

I’m certain their street corn salad with a smoked brisket add-on (brisket + esquites = brisquites) will rival last September’s tostada for the thing that wakes me up at 3 AM every night to stare into the tragically empty fridge.

No preorders this time. Come early, come often, and come prepared to CashDrop your order starting at 5 PM at 4100 N. Kedzie.

Meantime, set your sundials to the remaining fall Foodball schedule:

Read More

Today through Saturday, the Pilsen-based ceramic studio Gnarware Workshop hosts the Empty Bowls Fundraiser and Soup Service. Visit their webstore to purchase an empty ceramic bowl made by a local artist. Proceeds go directly to local food pantries and Love Fridges to provide food in time for Thanksgiving. Prices start at $7, and all bowls are food-safe. Pick up your new dinnerware between noon and 3 PM on 11/12 at UIC’s Gallery 400 (400 S. Peoria). While you’re there, you can take your new bowl(s) for a test drive with free soup provided by chefs from Kimski, DönerMen, and the Abundance Setting, coordinated by Community Kitchen, a food service for in-need people organized by Public Media Institute. Alternative pick-up arrangements can be made for those who can’t make it Saturday. Sadly, there are no alternative arrangements for free soup. (MC)

Listen in: here are some concerts tonight with links to past coverage by our music writers:

Guitarist and frequent collaborator Reno Cruz opens for Smooth Rogers tonight at Golden Dagger, with local band M.E.H. also on the bill (8 PM, 2447 N. Halsted, $10, 21+, tickets at Ticketweb).
Jazz pianist Fred Hersch brings his trio to SPACE in Evanston tonight (8 PM, 1245 Chicago Ave., Evanston, $20, all-ages, tickets at Eventbrite).
Folk-rock band Devotchka play at City Winery this evening (8 PM, 1200 W. Randolph, $28-$42, all-ages, tickets at the venue’s website).
Califone performs tonight at Judson and Moore Distillery, with BCMC (Cooper Crain and Bill MacKay) opening (8 PM, 3057 N. Rockwell, Building Five, $25, 21+, tickets at Eventbrite).

With the holidays on the horizon, it’s important to remember our friends behind bars. Whether you’re putting together annual holiday cards or looking to spread a little extra cheer, send some mail to someone inside this season. For anyone who signs up, Sex Workers Outreach Project (SWOP) will provide ten names and addresses of incarcerated sex workers in need of holiday cheer. The LGBTQ+ prison abolition project Black and Pink has great tips on corresponding with people in prison, and you can even sign up for a regular pen pal–or just someone to send a holiday card to. (MC)

Tonight at 8 PM, the First Nations Film and Video Festival wraps up its in-person events for the season with a screening of Once Upon a Time in Huasco Alto (Érase Una Vez en el Huasco Alto), a 2021 Chilean film directed by Polo Cortés and José Guerrero Urzua. The film is a mix of four stories that take place in northern Chile, informed by emotion, music, local identity, and myth. The screening is free to attend at Comfort Station (2579 N. Milwaukee), and more information about the festival is available at the their website. (SCJ)

Read More

Texas was once Mexican. Texas is Mexican again this November 14 when Heffer BBQ returns to Monday Night Foodball, the Reader’s weekly chef pop-up at the Kedzie Inn in Irving Park.

I’m sure you remember back in September, the last time someone parked a 500-gallon offset smoker outside the bar and the sweet haze of smoked meat wafted over the streets. Shawn Smith and Leonor Quezeda, with their smoked chicken tinga tostada, were a critical part of the sorcerers’ cabal that lured a steady column of salivating, red-eyed flesh eaters that helplessly followed its narcotic scent through the doors.

The married duo got their start during the pandemic with a small Costco smoker in their Pilsen backyard, but their synergy of Mexican and central Texas-style barbecue quickly became a weekly presence in the brewery pop-up arena. 

This week they and their 14-foot smoker Pauline are headlining MNF, with a heaping preview of what’s to come at their December residency at Kimski. That means brisket and pork-belly smoked Italian meatballs in marinara; smo-fried chicken wings or baby back ribs, chips and Hatch-chili queso dip (add brisket!); and for the plant eaters, a kale salad (hold the smoked beef tallow croutons)—plus Quezada’s scratch banana pudding.

I’m certain their street corn salad with a smoked brisket add-on (brisket + esquites = brisquites) will rival last September’s tostada for the thing that wakes me up at 3 AM every night to stare into the tragically empty fridge.

No preorders this time. Come early, come often, and come prepared to CashDrop your order starting at 5 PM at 4100 N. Kedzie.

Meantime, set your sundials to the remaining fall Foodball schedule:

Read More

Make your nominations on the ballot below!

Up until the nominating period ends at noon on Friday, December 9th, you can return to your ballot here at chicagoreader.com/best to nominate in additional categories or change your nominations.

Voting on the most nominated finalists will begin on January 18, 2023.

Read More

Make your nominations on the ballot below!

Up until the nominating period ends at noon on Friday, December 9th, you can return to your ballot here at chicagoreader.com/best to nominate in additional categories or change your nominations.

Voting on the most nominated finalists will begin on January 18, 2023.

Read More

Get involved…

Do you, your local business, or other local favorite deserve to be honored as the Best of Chicago? Find the category or categories where you or your favorites qualify: Nominate, vote — and start promoting!

Nominating, voting, and announcement of the winners will all take place at: chicagoreader.com/best

Find your section

Use these shortcut URLs to link or point directly to your Best of Chicago group of categories:

Arts & Culture: chicagoreader.com/bestArts

Buy Local: chicagoreader.com/bestBuy

Cannabis: chicagoreader.com/bestCannabis

City Life: chicagoreader.com/bestCity

Food & Drink: chicagoreader.com/bestFood

Music & Nightlife: chicagoreader.com/bestMusic

Sports & Recreation: chicagoreader.com/bestSports

In your campaigning on social media, remember to use the hashtag:

#BOC2022

Sample text for your social media sharing

Nomination round

LinkedIn and Facebook:

We want to win the Chicago Reader’s Best of Chicago! Click the link to nominate us for Best [insert category]! Please share and help us get on the ballot! https://chicagoreader.com/best

Twitter (Click to tweet):

Nominate us for Best of Chicago! We hope to win [insert category name]! #BOC2021 @chicago_reader https://chicagoreader.com/best

Voting round

LinkedIn and Facebook:

We want to win the Chicago Reader’s Best of Chicago! Click the link to vote for us for Best [insert category]! Please share and help us get on the ballot! https://chicagoreader.com/best

Twitter (Click to tweet):

WE NEED YOUR VOTES! Vote for us in Best [insert category name]! #BOC2021 @chicago_reader https://chicagoreader.com/best

Advertise

And don’t forget, if you’re interested in advertising online or in print during Best of Chicago nominating and voting and in our Best Of Chicago issue on April 6, you can find information at chicagoreader.com/ads or email us directly at [email protected].

For purposes of the Best of Chicago, “Chicago” may be generously interpreted as the Chicago area except where the category is specific to a city neighborhood or to the suburbs. We may at our discretion exclude any nominees we determine to be outside the Chicago area for their categories and we reserve the right to exclude any suspicious, abusive, or nonqualifying nominations or votes.

Read More