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“We’re Bikini Kill and we want revolution girl-style now!” roared punk feminist frontwoman Kathleen Hanna at a 1991 Bikini Kill performance of their song “Double Dare Ya.” What started as a war cry during their riotous live shows—demanding liberation from sexual harassment, gendered violence, and the shadowy tendrils of capitalism—quickly cemented into a mantra for a new generation of alt-queer punks and riot grrrls.

Director, editor, and producer Maria Breaux taps into the bratty ferocity and cries for revolution of the 1990s riot grrrl movement with her crowdfunded feature film Vulveeta, premiering as part of the 40th iteration of Reeling: The Chicago LGBTQ+ International Film Festival. 

Vulveeta feels spiritually indebted to the improvised mockumentary style popularized by Christopher Guest and Rob Reiner’s 1984 comedy This Is Spinal Tap, which documents self-serious English rockers Spinal Tap as they tour in promotion of their salacious new album Sniff the Glove. Breaux’s San Francisco-set comedy rewrites the subgenre with queer BIPOC verve, featuring original songs recorded by the cast and a soundtrack from scene staples like Bratmobile, Tribe 8, The Homobiles, and Bikini Kill. 

The title was inspired by a long-running joke between StormMiguel Florez (coproducer and editor who plays the character Gordonx Garcia) and a friend he’d met while playing in a lesbian rock band in early 90s Albuquerque, New Mexico. “My best friend Fara would always joke that she had a band she’d call Vulveeta and she would start talking about her band as if it existed . . . I started feeding the rumor mill anytime somebody would miss my show,” Florez said.

Eventually, people within the community buzzed about the enigmatic invented band, with Florez cheekily telling friends who just missed his shows that they didn’t catch their incredible opening act Vulveeta. By the time Breaux was deciding on a name for the film, Florez suggested—with permission—the long-fabled Albuquerque jest.

Vulveeta stars Breaux as narcissist punk rocker Grrrilda Beausoleil, who abruptly abandoned the titular 90s riot grrrl band as they teased the edge of notoriety. Now 20 years later with a documentary crew in tow, Grrrilda’s turning 50 and wants to rally the troops once more for a reunion show, but a lot has changed from the days of stickering and zine-making.

Grrrilda’s become something of a new age punk. “She’s done all these healing modalities, from going to Peru on an Ayahuasca retreat to past life regressions—but still on the verge of having a meltdown at any moment and so on,” Breaux said.

Bass guitarist Jett Groan (J Aguilar) is more than willing to let bygones be bygones and get the band back together, perhaps if only to languish after Grrrilda. Killer Child (Dakota Billops-Breaux)—previously the two-year-old drummer for the punk unit (nothing more hardcore than hiring a baby to blitzkrieg the drums)—is now in her early 20s and goes by the name KC. She’s taking a gap year from college due to a “lack of funds” and Vulveeta’s hasty reunion may just be her ticket out of her latest gig in lawn furniture upkeep. 

Not everyone is eager about Grrrilda’s return. Rhythm guitarist and avid dog-enthusiast Gordonx is still bitter about the breakup, having to pick up the pieces of Vulveeta after Grrrilda’s swift exit. And former bandmate Susan Strapp (Ruby Goldberg) wants absolutely nothing to do with the band, telling Grrrilda’s film crew through her apartment intercom to piss off and stay away. 

Alongside their money-centered manager (Lydia Tremayne) and their newest, nerves-ridden backing vocalist Harriet (Sarah Korda), Vulveeta prepares for their reconciliation show as they skewer the progressive feminist punk movement, new age aphorisms, and Bay Area culture with sincerity and grit.

Breaux even snags cameos from Lynn Breedlove of the queer Californian ride-sharing service and band of the same name The Homobiles, and Alison Wolfe of Bratmobile, music journalist and cofounder of the riot grrrl movement.

“I didn’t want to co-opt a movement, you know?” Breaux said. “I wasn’t quite part of the movement and it was important for me to hear from leaders and someone that was an expert in that perspective—to honor the musicians.” 

Vulveeta93 min.The 40th edition of Reeling: The Chicago LGBTQ+ International Film FestivalStream online Sept. 30-Oct. 6; $10

Riot grrrl began as a political movement and music scene in 1991 when women from Washington, D.C., and Olympia, Washington, got together to address the long-standing sexism and harassment they received from the primarily white male punk scene. The Riot Grrrl Manifesto was published that same year in Bikini Kill’s second fanzine, a call to arms for women to upend the male domain of punk rock and establish safe spaces for women free from harassment. What followed was a half-decade-long revolution in which riot grrrls raised consciousness through handmade fanzines and distributed their music on cassettes and CDs with DIY tactility.

Aguilar recalls being on the peripheries of the movement, even cutting and pasting together a couple zines using photocopies from the long-extinct Kinko’s. “I tried to steal some photocopies; we would sneak in there and make the zines and hand them out at shows,” they said.

Florez connected with riot grrrl’s aesthetics and practicality. “Even though I wasn’t as connected with the riot grrrl scene, I was definitely connected to a lot of queer scenes and people doing DIY . . . so I definitely had those influences,” Florez said.

Vulveeta influences stretch beyond the 90s punk sensibility, indebted to the slow cultural shift away from the studio audience sitcom towards the cinéma vérité-inspired mockumentary comedy, complete with talking heads and colorful confessionals.

Breaux attributes the broad appeal of the mockumentary to “so many years of reality TV under our belts culturally.” Seminal reality shows like The Real World and Keeping Up with the Kardashians mined the facet of their subjects’ perceptual awareness for layered comedy and occasional depth, while mockumentaries like The Office (both the UK and American productions), Modern Family, and Parks and Recreation propelled those farcical elements into greater popular culture.

Breaux says she and the cast discovered that same freedom Christopher Guest found within his improvisational comedies, allowing them to move past the specificities of the dialogue, open up, and just play.

It’s fitting then that Breaux uses the mockumentary genre for her improvised spoof, which feels tailor-made for underdogs, the undermined, and those seeking redemption. But the queer revolution isn’t destined to stick to this script forever. Aguilar believes this is only the beginning for independent cinema made for and by queer people of color.

“Whether it’s a mockumentary or any kind of genre, we’re [LGBTQ+ people] ready to be at the center,” Aguilar said. “Finally, we’re ready for it.”

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Bros, directed by Nicholas Stoller, written by Northwestern alumnus Billy Eichner and Stoller, is a film that prides itself on a couple of firsts: the first romantic comedy from a major studio focusing on gay men and Eichner as the first openly gay man to write and star in a studio picture. Featuring an LGBTQ+ principal cast, the film hilariously threads the needle in its portrayal of common complications across all romantic relationships, while never sacrificing the uniqueness of LGBTQ+ experiences.

I sat down with Eichner and costar Luke Macfarlane—who play protagonists Bobbyand Aaron, respectively—to discuss the joy of the theatrical experience, bringing the film from idea to reality, and the exuberant messiness of loving both complicated people and communities. What follows has been edited for length and clarity.

Adam Mullins-Khatib: When you spoke to the audience after the screening last night, you spoke to the importance of sitting together in a theater and laughing. What does that really mean to you and why is that process so important? 

Billy Eichner: I think we’ve forgotten how much fun it is to sit in a movie theater with people and laugh for a couple of hours, you know? I think—I hope—Bros is a reminder to people of that, “Oh, wow.” 

Seeing a comedy in a movie theater, and not just watching it at home by yourself, but sitting there with hundreds of other people and laughing together and being moved together. That’s a very special communal experience. You know, it’s an experience I grew up having all the time that we took for granted. And now we don’t get that anymore. You know, a lot of the movies that get released in theaters are pretty dark and gritty and cynical and or they’re harm movies, you know, they’re meant to scare people.

And I love a lot of those movies, nothing against those movies, but, you know, we used to get comedies in movie theaters, too, things that made you laugh and feel good about life and were uplifting and made you feel hopeful. And there’s something about experiencing that with hundreds of other people that I think is very comforting and delightful and makes you feel good about life. So, I hope that Bros gives people that experience. 

Luke Macfarlane: Again, we were for the last maybe five to six minutes kind of waiting in the hallway and listening, and I forgot how much I like listening to people respond to something. And there’s something so immediate, it’s like a light switch with laughter, you kind of know. There are different versions of it—it slowly comes up or it doesn’t come up. I’ve seen the movie enough times now that I can, not just watch a movie, but also listen to the audience watch the movie. And that’s delightful, absolutely delightful.

Absolutely, it’s so interesting these days the dearth of these kinds of comedies in theaters. I love all kinds of movies, but it’s sad, losing that experience of just being in that room and laughing together, not just being nervous or scared or anxious together. 

Eichner: Right, or suffering through a four-hour movie together. And, for LGBTQ movies, the few that we’ve got, they’ve so often been about the suffering of being gay. About the torture of the closet. They’re period pieces about tortured gay, gay cowboy, queer people, and we’re getting beaten up and we’re dying of several different diseases, and we’re being played by straight male movie stars. So, we don’t even get to play the roles where we’re dying! And look, those stories are important to tell. I don’t mean to diminish those. That is part of our history, and part of our existence as queer people, but we also fall in love and make each other laugh a lot. My experience of being gay is and has been pretty joyful. Most of the time when it has been complicated or challenging, it’s been in the way that being a human is complicated and challenging for everyone straight or LGBTQ. So again, this is a rare movie, and I’m glad to be giving people that experience and I hope they take us up on it. 

In terms of the development process and bringing this idea from inception to the theaters, were there any particular points that struck you as critical in that process? Like you said, you don’t typically see this kind of story and this kind of representation in the theater, so was there something about creating this film that really stands out to you as an aha moment? 

Eichner: Sort of, yeah. You know it’s the first movie I’ve ever written and the first movie I’ve ever starred in. But, I didn’t make it by myself. I made it with two very experienced guys who made a lot of great major studio comedies, Judd Apatow and Nick Stoller. Bridesmaids, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, and the list goes on and on. 

I love those movies. So, you know, for all of us and for me, especially, it meant a lot that the movie be hilarious. We’re comedy guys, first and foremost, you don’t sit down and say, “I’m writing a historic comedy, or I’m going to write a gay movie, etc.” We sat down and said, “Let’s make the funniest movie we can make.”

But also, and I told those guys from the beginning—and to their credit, they were always backing me up on it—I said, “It has to be authentic.” That was what I want to give people. I want LGBTQ folks and the gay men that the movie is essentially about to see themselves reflected in a way we have not gotten nearly enough of over the years, especially on a big screen in the movie theater. And I think it’s important and fun and exciting for straight people, who might think they know what it’s like to be gay based on a few wacky sitcom characters they’ve seen over the years, but they don’t really know.

So, in addition to getting what I hope is a very funny experience at the movies for them and making them laugh out loud, they’re also getting a peek behind the curtain at a culture they may think they know, but they don’t really know.

I told Nick and Judd from the beginning, we can’t just do When Harry Met Sally and slip in two gay guys, you know? We don’t play by those rules. And the movie has to reflect that. So that was really important to me.

Macfarlane: The rules are different. 

Eichner: The rules are different, sometimes. 

There was one moment in the film, and I talked to several friends prior to seeing it as well, and the thing that kind of came up again and again was the museum space and the range of diversity of opinion that occurred within that space. [Bobby heads the opening of an LGBTQ+ museum, trying and comedically failing to manage the broad range of expectations.] And the thing I kept hearing again and again, from folks across the spectrum was, “I’ve been in that room.”

Eichner: Yes!

Are there particular moments that brought that to you? Or is that a more generalized experience that you included? 

Eichner: It wasn’t a particular moment, but look, I’ve been an open gay man my entire adult life, and I’m not a baby; I turn 44 on Sunday [September 18]. So, I’ve been in this community and an active part of it for a long time. And of course, it’s a very eclectic community, sure, as we all know. I also wanted to make sure that as important as it was to represent all corners of the community to the best of our ability as any one-hour-and-45-minute romantic comedy can, it’s also not a sanctimonious movie. We’re not a perfect community. We do give each other hell all the time, in meetings like that, or on social media. As much as we love each other, we also really love to sort of tear each other apart sometimes and sometimes for good reason.

And sometimes it gets a little out of hand and irrational. And so, one of the great things about having the whole cast be LGBTQ is that we could poke fun at each other. Look, our community isn’t perfect, we’re flawed, and that’s worth having a little fun with, too. We didn’t want to walk on eggshells here. Again, the goal of the movie was always to be as funny as possible, as much as possible. And I thought that was a space worth poking a little bit of fun at, even though it’s also an important space. And having a museum like that should exist in real life, and it’s crazy that it doesn’t. So, there was a lot we’re trying to accomplish with that.

BrosR, 115 min.Wide release in theaters

Luke, in terms of your involvement in this film, can you kind of speak to how you became aware of it? How do you know Billy, or was this your first interaction?

Macfarlane: It was very much the old-fashioned way. My agent sent me a script and said, “This is a great part.” I was aware of Billy but had never met him before. I read the script . . . and immediately had that feeling, “Oh, oh boy, this is, this is good.” Not only because it was hilarious, but because it really spoke to something that I identified with. And then I went in, I auditioned, and it felt really good. And, as far as the rest of the film, it was clearly their script. They’d been thinking about it—Billy and Nick—at that point for a long time, but they were always very receptive to thoughts: “What is your experience of this?” We sat down in conversation before and after, and we’ve talked about this a couple times, but the Garth Brooks thing [Brooks is Aaron’s favorite musician, much to Bobby’s dismay] actually came out of a real conversation that happened during filming. 

Eichner: On set! A few weeks into filming. 

Macfarlane: On set. And Billy was like, “I’m going to put it in.” And there were other things that he just sort of threw in that didn’t ultimately make it in the movie that were just based on conversations and how he and I are different and how we take up two different sort of spectrums of the cis, white male spectrum.

Even within the spectrum . . .

Eichner: We’re not all the same. 

Exactly, even within something that you can narrowly define there’s this range of experience. 

Eichner: Complicated, messy human beings at the end of the day. And that’s really something I wanted to reflect in the movie. There are moments in the movie when Bobby and Aaron are both wrong at the same time. There are moments when you could kind of see things from both of our perspectives, and I wanted it to be messy like that, and I wanted it to feel real. I didn’t want to sort of wrap a nice little bow on every moment, you know? While also keeping it hopeful and romantic.

Macfarlane: It certainly makes your role as an actor harder. They give you more and more sort of stuff to play with. I remember as the script was developed, there were more and more things. I was like, “Oh, Aaron.” The steroids thing. At a later audition, “Aaron, he’s doing drugs. OK.”

Eichner: Not steroids, it’s testosterone!

Macfarlane: Sorry, testosterone! And, I can’t remember if the two-person blow job was also in the first draft that I read.

Eichner: It was not, that was a rewrite. 

Macfarlane: So that was another thing! Don’t judge me. 

Speaking of that collaborative process, and the kinds of things that made it in, were there any favorite moments that didn’t make it into the film?

Eichner: We shot 170 pages. With the extra time that, unfortunately, COVID gave us—because we got shut down about a month before we were supposed to start shooting in early 2020 and then a year and a half passed by—we just kept writing more stuff and more funny stuff and more jokes. So, by the time we got to shoot, we had 170 pages. To Nick’s credit, he somehow found a way to shoot it all, because the number of shoot days we got didn’t increase. 

Yeah, oh my god, there were so many jokes, so many. I think some of the set pieces that we had to cut will end up on the DVD or something like that. We had a whole Pride parade sequence, a huge Pride parade that falls apart where everyone starts fighting. I love that scene, but ultimately some of that stuff, even if it was funny, some things were a little, in the context of the movie, too silly. It’s not a sketch comedy show, it’s a real, grounded story we’re trying to tell, one with a lot of comedy and a lot of laughs, but sometimes even when things were funny on paper, it just felt like a different tone. And so, they couldn’t fit in the movie as much as we loved them. There’s a lot of those. And I think maybe you’ll see them in the extras. 

Macfarlane: Going to bed at night and pulling up YouTube and listening to those famous scenes from Anchorman where Judd is yelling from behind the screen all the different versions of the lines. That’s so funny. We love that. We love seeing the way the sausage is made.

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Born in Pennsylvania, Ben Zucker lived in Berkeley, New England, and London before moving to Chicago for a graduate composition program at Northwestern University. He was excited to come here to study because he’d been a longtime fan of the city’s rich, varied musical scenes, including the jazz stalwarts in the AACM and the adventurous rock bands that have defined Chicago indie labels Thrill Jockey and Drag City. Zucker’s music has a similarly ambitious spirit. In 2017 he composed a work for cello and objects titled QOWOOOPO, inspired by the browser game QWOP; in 2019 he released a vocal piece titled Semiramide Riconosciuta (An Archaeology), inspired by queen Shammuramat of the Neo-Assyrian Empire; and earlier this year he wrote music for a puppet show by Chicago-based director and puppet artist Jaerin Son titled Dogs or Cats; Augmented Body.

On his 2021 album Demiurgent (on local label Fallen Moon), Zucker adds studio manipulations to material culled from live improvisations and field recordings. The title’s reference to a “demiurge”—a term ancient Greek philosophers used to describe the creator of the world—foreshadows the spectacle of the music. In “Cereltan,” soft percussive tones appear amid shapeshifting ambience like stars glistening in a night sky; in the pensive, brooding “Edicroes,” the way electric noise and wavering electronics feed off each other feels like a cycling of life and death. Zucker’s most recent studio release, this spring’s Having Becames, is centered on meditative drones built from single-take vibraphone recordings, and on a couple tracks he placed tack and modeling clay on the tone bars to alter their sound, creating something subdued and graceful.

On September 30, Zucker releases Semiterritory (Ears & Eyes), a stirring live recording by his experimental jazz quartet, Fifth Season, but that won’t affect his performance at Constellation. He’s presenting a doctoral recital showcasing four different works based on his dissertation, joined by ten musicians—including vocalist Julian Otis, clarinetist Jeff Kimmel, and violist Johanna Brock—and adding his own trumpet, vibraphone, and electronics. Zucker’s dissertation interrogates the idea of “openness” involved in compositions featuring indeterminacy and improvisation. Two of the pieces he’ll present are larger ensemble works where the music will change based on performers’ observations of their own and others’ playing. The other two are part of a new series in which notation will be read and then reread with what he calls “changing conditions of interpretation.” That open structure speaks to Zucker’s curiosity, which will be on full display at this vital concert.

Ben Zucker Sun 10/9 8:30 PM, Constellation, 3111 N. Western, $15, 18+

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Artist Khaaliq Haneef closes out his debut solo show, “The Devious Mind of Khaaliq Haneef” with Sounds & S’mores, an open mike at the Lawndale Pop-Up Spot (1408 S. Central Park). Hip-hop and R&B artist Khing Kwon will be master of ceremonies, and DJ Ramiro, who has a monthly night at Osito’s Tap in Little Village, will be performing his blend of house, disco, funk, and hip-hop. Haneef’s work is informed by graffiti and muralism, and he handles Khing Kwon’s branding. This will be a night of collaboration and joy in Lawndale. Prepare to share your talents from 7-11 PM. (MC)

September marks Quimby’s (1854 W. North) 31st anniversary, and what better way to celebrate than with the store’s first in-person event since the pandemic. Join Quimby’s alumni Corinne Halbert and Caroline Cash as they discuss Halbert’s new graphic novel Acid Nun, which sees its protagonists turn a bad acid trip into a journey of self discovery. Cash, an Ignatz Award winner, will also talk about her debut graphic novel, Girl in the World, which follows a group of girls through a chaotic 24 hours that starts with some, ahem, interesting Facebook events. The talk runs from 7-9 PM. It’s free and open to everyone, but masks are required. (MC)

The Crooked Mouth, a folk cabaret musical offshoot of sorts of Curious Theatre Branch (Curious cofounders Jenny Magnus and Beau O’Reilly are two of the band members) performs tonight at Constellation (3111 N. Western), alongside a new “very short” play by Theater Oobleck cofounder Mickle Maher entitled John Keats on Cats. (If you saw Maher’s brilliant William Blake-inspired There Is a Happiness That Morning Isduring one of its several iterations a few years ago, then you know already about his affection for 19th-century British poets.) The show starts at 8:30 PM, and there is also a livestream available. Tickets are $15 ($5 livestream) at constellation-chicago.com. (KR)

More music options for tonight: the sprawling, multi-venue, nine day World Music Festival opens tonight with “Ragamala: A Celebration of Indian Classical Music.” This 14-hour series of performances (don’t worry, you can drop in or out anytime) scheduled from 6 PM tonight until 8 AM Saturday at Preston Bradley Hall inside the Chicago Cultural Center (78 E. Washington, third floor) is a bit of a reflection of what to expect from the World Music Festival: incredible musicians informed by global traditions, some playing Chicago for the very first time, and it’s all for free! Read more about the festival and see the full schedule here. Prefer some punk for your Friday? This week, Gossip Wolf tipped us off to tonight’s Nora Marks record release show at Gman Tavern (3740 N. Clark). Cut Your Losses, OK Cool, and Pinksqueeze round out the bill and the 21+ show starts at 9 PM (tickets are here). (SCJ)

It’s not quite October as I’m writing this, but there is certainly an autumn chill in the air in Chicago, which leads thoughts to the best part of the year: spooky season! Kick it off along with a group of writers, podcasters, occultists, and other individuals interested in the paranormal by attending the all-online PanParacon 2022. The “pan” in the name stands for a few things including the pandemic (organizers strove to create a fully online experience in order to accommodate for community members who are not able to travel right now), and also the god Pan (many of the organizers and participants found each other online after watching the Planet Weird series Hellier which covers Pan extensively in the show’s second season). Tonight, you can tune in at 5 PM for a panel discussion on “Identity and the Otherworldly” featuring artist Leslie Hornsberry, DEI practitioner and blogger Nick Hornsberry, Kaj Jensen, podcaster Dash Kwiatkowski, and Mortellus, the High Priestess of the Coven of the Leaves. The convention continues through Sunday and a full schedule with more information is available here. (SCJ)

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Bros, directed by Nicholas Stoller, written by Northwestern alumnus Billy Eichner and Stoller, is a film that prides itself on a couple of firsts: the first romantic comedy from a major studio focusing on gay men and Eichner as the first openly gay man to write and star in a studio picture. Featuring an LGBTQ+ principal cast, the film hilariously threads the needle in its portrayal of common complications across all romantic relationships, while never sacrificing the uniqueness of LGBTQ+ experiences.

I sat down with Eichner and costar Luke Macfarlane—who play protagonists Bobbyand Aaron, respectively—to discuss the joy of the theatrical experience, bringing the film from idea to reality, and the exuberant messiness of loving both complicated people and communities. What follows has been edited for length and clarity.

Adam Mullins-Khatib: When you spoke to the audience after the screening last night, you spoke to the importance of sitting together in a theater and laughing. What does that really mean to you and why is that process so important? 

Billy Eichner: I think we’ve forgotten how much fun it is to sit in a movie theater with people and laugh for a couple of hours, you know? I think—I hope—Bros is a reminder to people of that, “Oh, wow.” 

Seeing a comedy in a movie theater, and not just watching it at home by yourself, but sitting there with hundreds of other people and laughing together and being moved together. That’s a very special communal experience. You know, it’s an experience I grew up having all the time that we took for granted. And now we don’t get that anymore. You know, a lot of the movies that get released in theaters are pretty dark and gritty and cynical and or they’re harm movies, you know, they’re meant to scare people.

And I love a lot of those movies, nothing against those movies, but, you know, we used to get comedies in movie theaters, too, things that made you laugh and feel good about life and were uplifting and made you feel hopeful. And there’s something about experiencing that with hundreds of other people that I think is very comforting and delightful and makes you feel good about life. So, I hope that Bros gives people that experience. 

Luke Macfarlane: Again, we were for the last maybe five to six minutes kind of waiting in the hallway and listening, and I forgot how much I like listening to people respond to something. And there’s something so immediate, it’s like a light switch with laughter, you kind of know. There are different versions of it—it slowly comes up or it doesn’t come up. I’ve seen the movie enough times now that I can, not just watch a movie, but also listen to the audience watch the movie. And that’s delightful, absolutely delightful.

Absolutely, it’s so interesting these days the dearth of these kinds of comedies in theaters. I love all kinds of movies, but it’s sad, losing that experience of just being in that room and laughing together, not just being nervous or scared or anxious together. 

Eichner: Right, or suffering through a four-hour movie together. And, for LGBTQ movies, the few that we’ve got, they’ve so often been about the suffering of being gay. About the torture of the closet. They’re period pieces about tortured gay, gay cowboy, queer people, and we’re getting beaten up and we’re dying of several different diseases, and we’re being played by straight male movie stars. So, we don’t even get to play the roles where we’re dying! And look, those stories are important to tell. I don’t mean to diminish those. That is part of our history, and part of our existence as queer people, but we also fall in love and make each other laugh a lot. My experience of being gay is and has been pretty joyful. Most of the time when it has been complicated or challenging, it’s been in the way that being a human is complicated and challenging for everyone straight or LGBTQ. So again, this is a rare movie, and I’m glad to be giving people that experience and I hope they take us up on it. 

In terms of the development process and bringing this idea from inception to the theaters, were there any particular points that struck you as critical in that process? Like you said, you don’t typically see this kind of story and this kind of representation in the theater, so was there something about creating this film that really stands out to you as an aha moment? 

Eichner: Sort of, yeah. You know it’s the first movie I’ve ever written and the first movie I’ve ever starred in. But, I didn’t make it by myself. I made it with two very experienced guys who made a lot of great major studio comedies, Judd Apatow and Nick Stoller. Bridesmaids, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, and the list goes on and on. 

I love those movies. So, you know, for all of us and for me, especially, it meant a lot that the movie be hilarious. We’re comedy guys, first and foremost, you don’t sit down and say, “I’m writing a historic comedy, or I’m going to write a gay movie, etc.” We sat down and said, “Let’s make the funniest movie we can make.”

But also, and I told those guys from the beginning—and to their credit, they were always backing me up on it—I said, “It has to be authentic.” That was what I want to give people. I want LGBTQ folks and the gay men that the movie is essentially about to see themselves reflected in a way we have not gotten nearly enough of over the years, especially on a big screen in the movie theater. And I think it’s important and fun and exciting for straight people, who might think they know what it’s like to be gay based on a few wacky sitcom characters they’ve seen over the years, but they don’t really know.

So, in addition to getting what I hope is a very funny experience at the movies for them and making them laugh out loud, they’re also getting a peek behind the curtain at a culture they may think they know, but they don’t really know.

I told Nick and Judd from the beginning, we can’t just do When Harry Met Sally and slip in two gay guys, you know? We don’t play by those rules. And the movie has to reflect that. So that was really important to me.

Macfarlane: The rules are different. 

Eichner: The rules are different, sometimes. 

There was one moment in the film, and I talked to several friends prior to seeing it as well, and the thing that kind of came up again and again was the museum space and the range of diversity of opinion that occurred within that space. [Bobby heads the opening of an LGBTQ+ museum, trying and comedically failing to manage the broad range of expectations.] And the thing I kept hearing again and again, from folks across the spectrum was, “I’ve been in that room.”

Eichner: Yes!

Are there particular moments that brought that to you? Or is that a more generalized experience that you included? 

Eichner: It wasn’t a particular moment, but look, I’ve been an open gay man my entire adult life, and I’m not a baby; I turn 44 on Sunday [September 18]. So, I’ve been in this community and an active part of it for a long time. And of course, it’s a very eclectic community, sure, as we all know. I also wanted to make sure that as important as it was to represent all corners of the community to the best of our ability as any one-hour-and-45-minute romantic comedy can, it’s also not a sanctimonious movie. We’re not a perfect community. We do give each other hell all the time, in meetings like that, or on social media. As much as we love each other, we also really love to sort of tear each other apart sometimes and sometimes for good reason.

And sometimes it gets a little out of hand and irrational. And so, one of the great things about having the whole cast be LGBTQ is that we could poke fun at each other. Look, our community isn’t perfect, we’re flawed, and that’s worth having a little fun with, too. We didn’t want to walk on eggshells here. Again, the goal of the movie was always to be as funny as possible, as much as possible. And I thought that was a space worth poking a little bit of fun at, even though it’s also an important space. And having a museum like that should exist in real life, and it’s crazy that it doesn’t. So, there was a lot we’re trying to accomplish with that.

BrosR, 115 min.Wide release in theaters

Luke, in terms of your involvement in this film, can you kind of speak to how you became aware of it? How do you know Billy, or was this your first interaction?

Macfarlane: It was very much the old-fashioned way. My agent sent me a script and said, “This is a great part.” I was aware of Billy but had never met him before. I read the script . . . and immediately had that feeling, “Oh, oh boy, this is, this is good.” Not only because it was hilarious, but because it really spoke to something that I identified with. And then I went in, I auditioned, and it felt really good. And, as far as the rest of the film, it was clearly their script. They’d been thinking about it—Billy and Nick—at that point for a long time, but they were always very receptive to thoughts: “What is your experience of this?” We sat down in conversation before and after, and we’ve talked about this a couple times, but the Garth Brooks thing [Brooks is Aaron’s favorite musician, much to Bobby’s dismay] actually came out of a real conversation that happened during filming. 

Eichner: On set! A few weeks into filming. 

Macfarlane: On set. And Billy was like, “I’m going to put it in.” And there were other things that he just sort of threw in that didn’t ultimately make it in the movie that were just based on conversations and how he and I are different and how we take up two different sort of spectrums of the cis, white male spectrum.

Even within the spectrum . . .

Eichner: We’re not all the same. 

Exactly, even within something that you can narrowly define there’s this range of experience. 

Eichner: Complicated, messy human beings at the end of the day. And that’s really something I wanted to reflect in the movie. There are moments in the movie when Bobby and Aaron are both wrong at the same time. There are moments when you could kind of see things from both of our perspectives, and I wanted it to be messy like that, and I wanted it to feel real. I didn’t want to sort of wrap a nice little bow on every moment, you know? While also keeping it hopeful and romantic.

Macfarlane: It certainly makes your role as an actor harder. They give you more and more sort of stuff to play with. I remember as the script was developed, there were more and more things. I was like, “Oh, Aaron.” The steroids thing. At a later audition, “Aaron, he’s doing drugs. OK.”

Eichner: Not steroids, it’s testosterone!

Macfarlane: Sorry, testosterone! And, I can’t remember if the two-person blow job was also in the first draft that I read.

Eichner: It was not, that was a rewrite. 

Macfarlane: So that was another thing! Don’t judge me. 

Speaking of that collaborative process, and the kinds of things that made it in, were there any favorite moments that didn’t make it into the film?

Eichner: We shot 170 pages. With the extra time that, unfortunately, COVID gave us—because we got shut down about a month before we were supposed to start shooting in early 2020 and then a year and a half passed by—we just kept writing more stuff and more funny stuff and more jokes. So, by the time we got to shoot, we had 170 pages. To Nick’s credit, he somehow found a way to shoot it all, because the number of shoot days we got didn’t increase. 

Yeah, oh my god, there were so many jokes, so many. I think some of the set pieces that we had to cut will end up on the DVD or something like that. We had a whole Pride parade sequence, a huge Pride parade that falls apart where everyone starts fighting. I love that scene, but ultimately some of that stuff, even if it was funny, some things were a little, in the context of the movie, too silly. It’s not a sketch comedy show, it’s a real, grounded story we’re trying to tell, one with a lot of comedy and a lot of laughs, but sometimes even when things were funny on paper, it just felt like a different tone. And so, they couldn’t fit in the movie as much as we loved them. There’s a lot of those. And I think maybe you’ll see them in the extras. 

Macfarlane: Going to bed at night and pulling up YouTube and listening to those famous scenes from Anchorman where Judd is yelling from behind the screen all the different versions of the lines. That’s so funny. We love that. We love seeing the way the sausage is made.

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Artist Khaaliq Haneef closes out his debut solo show, “The Devious Mind of Khaaliq Haneef” with Sounds & S’mores, an open mike at the Lawndale Pop-Up Spot (1408 S. Central Park). Hip-hop and R&B artist Khing Kwon will be master of ceremonies, and DJ Ramiro, who has a monthly night at Osito’s Tap in Little Village, will be performing his blend of house, disco, funk, and hip-hop. Haneef’s work is informed by graffiti and muralism, and he handles Khing Kwon’s branding. This will be a night of collaboration and joy in Lawndale. Prepare to share your talents from 7-11 PM. (MC)

September marks Quimby’s (1854 W. North) 31st anniversary, and what better way to celebrate than with the store’s first in-person event since the pandemic. Join Quimby’s alumni Corinne Halbert and Caroline Cash as they discuss Halbert’s new graphic novel Acid Nun, which sees its protagonists turn a bad acid trip into a journey of self discovery. Cash, an Ignatz Award winner, will also talk about her debut graphic novel, Girl in the World, which follows a group of girls through a chaotic 24 hours that starts with some, ahem, interesting Facebook events. The talk runs from 7-9 PM. It’s free and open to everyone, but masks are required. (MC)

The Crooked Mouth, a folk cabaret musical offshoot of sorts of Curious Theatre Branch (Curious cofounders Jenny Magnus and Beau O’Reilly are two of the band members) performs tonight at Constellation (3111 N. Western), alongside a new “very short” play by Theater Oobleck cofounder Mickle Maher entitled John Keats on Cats. (If you saw Maher’s brilliant William Blake-inspired There Is a Happiness That Morning Isduring one of its several iterations a few years ago, then you know already about his affection for 19th-century British poets.) The show starts at 8:30 PM, and there is also a livestream available. Tickets are $15 ($5 livestream) at constellation-chicago.com. (KR)

More music options for tonight: the sprawling, multi-venue, nine day World Music Festival opens tonight with “Ragamala: A Celebration of Indian Classical Music.” This 14-hour series of performances (don’t worry, you can drop in or out anytime) scheduled from 6 PM tonight until 8 AM Saturday at Preston Bradley Hall inside the Chicago Cultural Center (78 E. Washington, third floor) is a bit of a reflection of what to expect from the World Music Festival: incredible musicians informed by global traditions, some playing Chicago for the very first time, and it’s all for free! Read more about the festival and see the full schedule here. Prefer some punk for your Friday? This week, Gossip Wolf tipped us off to tonight’s Nora Marks record release show at Gman Tavern (3740 N. Clark). Cut Your Losses, OK Cool, and Pinksqueeze round out the bill and the 21+ show starts at 9 PM (tickets are here). (SCJ)

It’s not quite October as I’m writing this, but there is certainly an autumn chill in the air in Chicago, which leads thoughts to the best part of the year: spooky season! Kick it off along with a group of writers, podcasters, occultists, and other individuals interested in the paranormal by attending the all-online PanParacon 2022. The “pan” in the name stands for a few things including the pandemic (organizers strove to create a fully online experience in order to accommodate for community members who are not able to travel right now), and also the god Pan (many of the organizers and participants found each other online after watching the Planet Weird series Hellier which covers Pan extensively in the show’s second season). Tonight, you can tune in at 5 PM for a panel discussion on “Identity and the Otherworldly” featuring artist Leslie Hornsberry, DEI practitioner and blogger Nick Hornsberry, Kaj Jensen, podcaster Dash Kwiatkowski, and Mortellus, the High Priestess of the Coven of the Leaves. The convention continues through Sunday and a full schedule with more information is available here. (SCJ)

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Born in Pennsylvania, Ben Zucker lived in Berkeley, New England, and London before moving to Chicago for a graduate composition program at Northwestern University. He was excited to come here to study because he’d been a longtime fan of the city’s rich, varied musical scenes, including the jazz stalwarts in the AACM and the adventurous rock bands that have defined Chicago indie labels Thrill Jockey and Drag City. Zucker’s music has a similarly ambitious spirit. In 2017 he composed a work for cello and objects titled QOWOOOPO, inspired by the browser game QWOP; in 2019 he released a vocal piece titled Semiramide Riconosciuta (An Archaeology), inspired by queen Shammuramat of the Neo-Assyrian Empire; and earlier this year he wrote music for a puppet show by Chicago-based director and puppet artist Jaerin Son titled Dogs or Cats; Augmented Body.

On his 2021 album Demiurgent (on local label Fallen Moon), Zucker adds studio manipulations to material culled from live improvisations and field recordings. The title’s reference to a “demiurge”—a term ancient Greek philosophers used to describe the creator of the world—foreshadows the spectacle of the music. In “Cereltan,” soft percussive tones appear amid shapeshifting ambience like stars glistening in a night sky; in the pensive, brooding “Edicroes,” the way electric noise and wavering electronics feed off each other feels like a cycling of life and death. Zucker’s most recent studio release, this spring’s Having Becames, is centered on meditative drones built from single-take vibraphone recordings, and on a couple tracks he placed tack and modeling clay on the tone bars to alter their sound, creating something subdued and graceful.

On September 30, Zucker releases Semiterritory (Ears & Eyes), a stirring live recording by his experimental jazz quartet, Fifth Season, but that won’t affect his performance at Constellation. He’s presenting a doctoral recital showcasing four different works based on his dissertation, joined by ten musicians—including vocalist Julian Otis, clarinetist Jeff Kimmel, and violist Johanna Brock—and adding his own trumpet, vibraphone, and electronics. Zucker’s dissertation interrogates the idea of “openness” involved in compositions featuring indeterminacy and improvisation. Two of the pieces he’ll present are larger ensemble works where the music will change based on performers’ observations of their own and others’ playing. The other two are part of a new series in which notation will be read and then reread with what he calls “changing conditions of interpretation.” That open structure speaks to Zucker’s curiosity, which will be on full display at this vital concert.

Ben Zucker Sun 10/9 8:30 PM, Constellation, 3111 N. Western, $15, 18+

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Now celebrating its 45th anniversary, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago presents Refraction, a mixed bill of contemporary works consisting of the world premiere of Chicago choreographer Randy Duncan’s Love Infinite, The Windless Hold by Osnel Delgado, and Darrell Grand Moultrie’s Dichotomy of a Journey—for one weekend only at the Harris Theater. With a program composed of works created in the past three years, the company under the leadership of artistic director Linda-Denise Fisher-Harrell seems to be evolving away from the cut-glass precision and Eurocentricity that has for many years been its signature and toward a commitment to the legacy and the here-and-now of Chicago and American dance. 

Refraction Through 10/2: Fri-Sat 8 PM, Sun 3 PM, Harris Theater, 205 E. Randolph, 312-334-7777, harristheaterchicago.org, $15-$110

Stripes of light form a diagonal passage within which two figures begin in The Windless Hold, as if to visualize vibrations emanating from their journey or barriers to it, a glimpse of a story that rapidly yields as the ensemble enters the stage, and dancers clothed in velour move sculpturally to arrive in shapely embraces that form and disintegrate. A solo danced by Jacqueline Burnett acts as a fulcrum in the work—within a circle of light, she becomes the center of gravity for the roil of others who circulate but do not touch her. A duet with Jack Henderson is punctuated by light (designed by Manuel Da Silva), a rapid lift into a briefly intensifying gleam is breathtaking in its simplicity, a reach from one to the other as the light falls makes an otherwise abstract work into an essay on yearning. 

Jack Henderson and Jacqueline Burnett in Osnel Delgado’s The Windless Hold Credit: Michelle Reid

Love Infinite, Duncan’s first work for Hubbard Street, opens with a focus on new HSDC dancer Shota Miyoshi, moving in an urgent solo in front of a horizon of standing dancers within a mist of light as if refracted through a waterfall. Miyoshi is magnetic, the generous pulse of this work—as the others join his energetic field, the stage becomes alive with the action that so characterizes Duncan’s work, in which masses of bodies animate and indicate an environment, simultaneously an ocean filled with schools of fish and the whirl and swirl of urban life, athletic and balletic and crowd-pleasing. Within a work that could render an individual anonymous, whether by himself or in a crowd, radiant Miyoshi has the time of his life, and we can’t help but get ours with him. There is no subtlety about Love Infinite; it is designed to dazzle, and it does.

Hubbard Street Dance Chicago performs Darrell Grand Moultrie’s Dichotomy of a Journey as part of the Refraction program at Harris Theater. Credit: Michelle Reid

The most mature work on the program, Dichotomy of a Journey appeals visually and viscerally, moving dancers in vermilion through a transformative arc from isolation to collective liberation by episodes. “Connection” brings a couple (Burnett and David Schultz) to touch at the elbow, a joint that can’t grasp or hold, a closeness from which they sometimes recoil, sometimes effloresce, illustrating the range of tenderness and its relationship to consent. “Vision,” the central solo (danced at opening by Elliot Hammans), embodies hope as a form of abjection, an isolated body contorted with the reception of an intuition or emotion heavy with greatness. And “Resilience” brings four individuals (Alexandria Best, Aaron Choate, Henderson, and Miyoshi) to lead a movement into joy—with breathtaking virtuosity affirming and never overwhelming the human spirit.

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Now celebrating its 45th anniversary, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago presents Refraction, a mixed bill of contemporary works consisting of the world premiere of Chicago choreographer Randy Duncan’s Love Infinite, The Windless Hold by Osnel Delgado, and Darrell Grand Moultrie’s Dichotomy of a Journey—for one weekend only at the Harris Theater. With a program composed of works created in the past three years, the company under the leadership of artistic director Linda-Denise Fisher-Harrell seems to be evolving away from the cut-glass precision and Eurocentricity that has for many years been its signature and toward a commitment to the legacy and the here-and-now of Chicago and American dance. 

Refraction Through 10/2: Fri-Sat 8 PM, Sun 3 PM, Harris Theater, 205 E. Randolph, 312-334-7777, harristheaterchicago.org, $15-$110

Stripes of light form a diagonal passage within which two figures begin in The Windless Hold, as if to visualize vibrations emanating from their journey or barriers to it, a glimpse of a story that rapidly yields as the ensemble enters the stage, and dancers clothed in velour move sculpturally to arrive in shapely embraces that form and disintegrate. A solo danced by Jacqueline Burnett acts as a fulcrum in the work—within a circle of light, she becomes the center of gravity for the roil of others who circulate but do not touch her. A duet with Jack Henderson is punctuated by light (designed by Manuel Da Silva), a rapid lift into a briefly intensifying gleam is breathtaking in its simplicity, a reach from one to the other as the light falls makes an otherwise abstract work into an essay on yearning. 

Jack Henderson and Jacqueline Burnett in Osnel Delgado’s The Windless Hold Credit: Michelle Reid

Love Infinite, Duncan’s first work for Hubbard Street, opens with a focus on new HSDC dancer Shota Miyoshi, moving in an urgent solo in front of a horizon of standing dancers within a mist of light as if refracted through a waterfall. Miyoshi is magnetic, the generous pulse of this work—as the others join his energetic field, the stage becomes alive with the action that so characterizes Duncan’s work, in which masses of bodies animate and indicate an environment, simultaneously an ocean filled with schools of fish and the whirl and swirl of urban life, athletic and balletic and crowd-pleasing. Within a work that could render an individual anonymous, whether by himself or in a crowd, radiant Miyoshi has the time of his life, and we can’t help but get ours with him. There is no subtlety about Love Infinite; it is designed to dazzle, and it does.

Hubbard Street Dance Chicago performs Darrell Grand Moultrie’s Dichotomy of a Journey as part of the Refraction program at Harris Theater. Credit: Michelle Reid

The most mature work on the program, Dichotomy of a Journey appeals visually and viscerally, moving dancers in vermilion through a transformative arc from isolation to collective liberation by episodes. “Connection” brings a couple (Burnett and David Schultz) to touch at the elbow, a joint that can’t grasp or hold, a closeness from which they sometimes recoil, sometimes effloresce, illustrating the range of tenderness and its relationship to consent. “Vision,” the central solo (danced at opening by Elliot Hammans), embodies hope as a form of abjection, an isolated body contorted with the reception of an intuition or emotion heavy with greatness. And “Resilience” brings four individuals (Alexandria Best, Aaron Choate, Henderson, and Miyoshi) to lead a movement into joy—with breathtaking virtuosity affirming and never overwhelming the human spirit.

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Chicago Bears QB Justin Fields has been hailed as the savior of this franchise from the moment he’s drafted, as he marked the first marquee quarterback prospect this organization has drafted – at least in my lifetime.

While it wasn’t this General Manager/Head Coach regime that brought Justin Fields to Chicago, they were the ones entrusted with his development and ensuring that he reaches the ceiling we all believe he is more than capable of achieving.

However, since taking over, Ryan Poles and Matt Eberflus have gone a different route than conventional wisdom would have suggested. Instead of investing heavy resources into Justin Fields’ supporting cast in terms of the offensive line and wide receiver, they’ve decided to press reset, clear up cap space for next year, and dedicate 2022 to installing a strong culture that promotes technically sound play and even stronger mental stamina.

While this offseason and the preseason were able to establish a lot of goodwill that Justin Fields is in good hands with this new regime, his play thus far this season has raised concerns that either he is being given an unfair hand or perhaps that he doesn’t have what it takes to succeed at the next level.

However, a response he gave in his most recent press conference lends credence to the former, suggesting that a stronger supporting cast could have paid dividends for his development this year.

If the Chicago Bears had invested in more high-profile weapons for Justin Fields, they could have exponentially progressed his development.

Take a look at Justin Fields’ response to a missed read on an early play in the Texans game, one in which he scrambled for 29 yards but missed two open receivers early in his progression despite looking to that side of the field.

“Yeah it was man coverage, I was looking for Moon [Mooney] on the deep corner – EQ came open late on the shorter corner, but you know my feet weren’t ready for that. I really just wanted Moon [Mooney], thought it was a good matchup, but the corner just ended up playing outside leverage so I ended up making something with my feet.”

– Justin Fields on his progressions on a 29 yard run in which he looked to miss multiple open receivers

Later, a question was asked about his and Darnell Mooney’s connection so far in the offense and if there’s any particular reason for their slow start. Fields said that there’s nothing really going on and that he’s trying not to force it, but admittedly is staring him down every now and then.

I believe this press conference is the latest example of how a stronger receiver room would have been of great utility for Justin Fields and the Chicago Bears this season. I think it’s becoming clear that right now Fields has more faith in certain players rather than the play-calls that get other guys open, leading to missed progressions and a longer time to throw.

By contrast, take a look at the Bengals. Joe Burrow has a plethora of weapons to throw to, and as a result, he doesn’t necessarily feel the pressure to force it to Jamarr if it’s not there. His confidence in his other pass catchers like Tee Higgins and Tyler Boyd settles him enough to go through his reads and take what the defense is giving to him. Right now, it’s looking more and more plausible that Justin Fields doesn’t have that same confidence in his receivers outside Darnell Mooney.

Yet, who could blame him? Equanimeous St. Brown, while athletically gifted, isn’t exactly a bonafide WR2 or 3 in any good offense. Byron Pringle had flashes in Kansas City but was still their third/fourth WR at best. The only other player Fields may trust outside Mooney is Velus Jones Jr who he had a hand in scouting, but he’s currently battling back from an injury.

If the Chicago Bears could have surrounded Justin Fields with more receivers this past summer, even if it meant less cap space next year, I believe he wouldn’t feel the need or internal pressure to get his only playmaker on offense the ball. Simply because he would be responsible for making sure all his other playmakers get their fair share too thereby allowing him to settle in and not force anything akin to what Joe Burrow gets to do in Cincinnati.

The latest reports suggest that the Bears will be active in the trade market for another receiver so hopefully help is on the way for Justin, but if not this season, next spring will see many notable WRs looking for contract extensions either with their current team or a new one. Names like Chase Claypool, Tee Higgins, and Michael Pittman could be available should the Bears want to make a move that would drastically help Fields’ development.

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