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Biden’s contemptible message to voters and the media: It’s none of your business.Dennis Byrneon October 9, 2020 at 8:22 pm

The Barbershop: Dennis Byrne, Proprietor

Biden’s contemptible message to voters and the media: It’s none of your business.

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Biden’s contemptible message to voters and the media: It’s none of your business.Dennis Byrneon October 9, 2020 at 8:22 pm Read More »

Artist BRYANTLamont presents the SOFAseriesDeanna Burrellon October 9, 2020 at 10:26 pm

The Red Cup Adventures

Artist BRYANTLamont presents the SOFAseries

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Artist BRYANTLamont presents the SOFAseriesDeanna Burrellon October 9, 2020 at 10:26 pm Read More »

Dystopia on the airKaylen Ralphon October 9, 2020 at 1:30 pm

Is life on Earth doomed?

That’s the question at the heart of H.G. Wells’s science fiction novel, The War of the Worlds, originally published in 1898, and then adapted for radio by Orson Welles in 1938. When Welles’s version originally hit the airwaves, listeners who unwittingly tuned into the broadcast were convinced Earth was actually being invaded by Martians.

It wasn’t, of course, but the dark allure of such a possibility remains. Beginning October 15, Theatre in the Dark will premiere its own live 21st-century iteration of the sci-fi classic, one with a modern-day twist for a Chicago (still) in quarantine.

The company is one of a handful of Chicago-area theaters paying homage to the golden age of radio drama this fall, both as a necessary adaptation to the restrictions of COVID-19, as well as an exploration of subject matter applicable to these “uncertain times.”

Beginning October 19, Steppenwolf for Young Adults is presenting Animal Farm as a radio play (a first for the program) as part of the 2020/21 season, adapted by Steve Pickering for radio from Althos Low’s original stage adaptation and directed by Lili-Anne Brown. And on October 13, Northlight Theatre is taking part in a nationwide, simultaneous broadcast of Berkeley Rep’s radio play adaptation of Sinclair Lewis’s novel It Can’t Happen Here.

In the 82 years that have passed since the initial radio broadcast of Welles’s The War of the Worlds, Martians have yet to invade Earth, and the planet has somehow managed to remain intact, at least in form (if not function).

As the threat of COVID-19 persists, and theaters plan for the reality of no-audience productions through the 2021 season, the resurgence of radio plays are an experiment in form meeting function. In step with the Great Depression, radio plays achieved widespread popularity during the 1920s and 1930s as a way for families to entertain themselves cheaply in between bouts of news about the weather and the economy. The genre remained the leading form of entertainment through World War II.

In Theatre in the Dark’s A War of the Worlds, adapted from H.G. Wells’s original by artistic producer Mack Gordon and producing artistic director Corey Bradberry, H.G. Wells (played by Gordon) is recast as a Chicagoland science journalist covering an attack from Mars at the turn of the 21st century. Gordon and Bradberry began working on the script at the end of last year, but the events of 2020 have certainly given new significance to the themes of colonialism H.G. Wells was exploring as far back as 1898.

“Having gone now through the pandemic, the quarantine, the protests over the summer that are still continuing–it’s been a very reflective time for us (as artists),” Bradberry said. “All of the sociopolitical themes [in The War of the Worlds] have become increasingly more and more relevant. What I’m hoping people walk away with is a story that is not about our times, but that is a metaphor for our times, that resonates past just October or November of 2020. This stretches back to 1898, and beforehand, and I think these are going to be things that we’re going to continue to grapple with nationally, culturally, locally. And so it’s very interesting for Mack and I as playwrights to try and figure out how Chicago would deal with this insurmountable obstacle.”

George Orwell’s Animal Farm is an allegory about revolutionizing in the face of unchecked, consolidated power. When Steppenwolf for Young Adults produced Animal Farm as a stage production in 2014, the accompanying educational programming for students centered around the idea of historical revolution, challenging them to think about important uprisings they’d potentially heard about or learned about in school. But now, the idea of revolution is much more immediate.

“When we were doing Animal Farm [in 2014], it felt like we were asking young people . . . to think about the historical implications of, for example, the civil rights era,” said Megan Shuchman, Steppenwolf’s director of education. “And now . . . there might be young people that will say, ‘I was just out marching last week about the unjust murder of Breonna Taylor and the implications that came down from the grand jury.'”

The scale of revolution doesn’t feel strictly historical anymore.

“I think the idea of reaching back for examples is potentially three days ago, and so I imagine that that will feel really immediate in a way that isn’t about just pulling from history,” Shuchman said. “And I hope what we can do is still have that conversation about the micro, because I think there are young people who do see that action happening, and they take part in it, and then I think there are young people who see that action, and they’re not quite sure where their role is. Something that the arts offers is a way to be like, actually, we can all participate in a way that’s meaningful to us. And how do we use the arts as the entryway for that?”

The political, cultural, and social landscape we as a society are navigating now is just as (if not more) terrifying than either of the eras in which radio plays and the content they championed first flourished. There’s a reason a resurgence in radio theater has arrived in step with these stories, specifically.

Berkeley Rep first performed It Can’t Happen Here in 2016. The last performance of the show–adapted from Sinclair Lewis’s novel about an idiot elected to be America’s president amidst the rise of European fascism–was one week before the election in which Donald Trump became president. Berkeley Rep’s associate director, Lisa Peterson, who directed the 2016 production, collaborated with Berkeley Rep’s former artistic director Tony Taccone to devise their original production for radio (Taccone and Bennett S. Cohen did the adaptation), which will stream for free through YouTube on October 13 (and is then available on demand through November 8). Northlight Theatre is one of the nonprofit theaters across the country participating in the simultaneous broadcast. (Goodman, Berwyn’s 16th Street Theater, Rivendell Theatre Ensemble, and the Columbia College Chicago theater department are also listed as local broadcast partners.)

“Right now, things are so crazy that it’s hard to know how to make art out of it yet,” Peterson said. “And so I think that both audiences and artists may be looking back to reflect on the way that artists 100 years ago in this country were thinking about the dangers of fascism. It’s uncanny with It Can’t Happen Here, it’s uncanny how much the character of Buzz Windrip, who is this idiot that runs for president . . . The comparisons between him and our current president are so unbelievable.” v






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Dystopia on the airKaylen Ralphon October 9, 2020 at 1:30 pm Read More »

The Chicago Loop’s sole hit featured guitar legend Mike BloomfieldSteve Krakowon October 9, 2020 at 11:00 am

sh_chicago_loop_web.jpg

Since 2004 Plastic Crimewave (aka Steve Krakow) has used the Secret History of Chicago Music to shine a light on worthy artists with Chicago ties who’ve been forgotten, underrated, or never noticed in the first place.

I’m not going to lie–for some reason, the story of the Chicago Loop has been tough for me to piece together. It’s beyond me how there could be so little information on the Web about a band that produced a decent-size hit and included two members who were already well-known at the time, but I’ll do my best by this important Windy City group.

The core of the Chicago Loop were former folk singers Judy Novy (sometimes billed incorrectly as “Navy”) and Bob Slawson. Novy was born in Chicago in January 1946 and formed a vocal duo with her brother Len that released its debut 45 in 1961. On that collectible single, “I’m Leaving Town, Baby” b/w “Willy Nilly Joe” (released by Chicago label Deer Records), Len & Judy planted themselves firmly in swingin’ rockabilly territory. But by 1965 they’d hopped on the folk-boom bandwagon for an LP on Prestige called Folk Songs/Sweet & Bittersweet.

Despite a painfully wholesome-looking cover, the album was surprisingly progressive for its time. It includes a spaced-out version of “In My Time of Dying” that prefigures mainstream psychedelia by a few years, and the musicians involved include George Edwards (later of H.P. Lovecraft) on 12-string guitar and the underrated Dwain Story (formerly of the Knob Lick Upper 10,000) on guitar and Dobro.

The duo gigged around the midwest, frequently visiting Michigan, and after their split in the mid-60s I can find little further evidence of Len’s career–in 1969 he did make an interesting solo LP for Atco, which mixes up weird country-rock and straightforward crooner pop.

In 1966, Judy Novy joined a band called Time with vocalist-guitarist Bob Slawson and pianist Barry Goldberg, the latter of whom had recently found fame sitting in with the Butterfield Blues Band when they backed Bob Dylan for his “heretically electric” appearance at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival. Slawson had been in folk groups such as the Almanac Singers, and in ’65 he’d played harmonica for Shel Silverstein’s 1966 LP “I’m So Good That I Don’t Have to Brag!” Shel Silverstein Sings His Songs. Time supposedly recorded a six-song demo (though by then they may have changed their name to the Chicago Loop), but the tapes have never turned up.

Butterfield Blues Band guitarist Mike Bloomfield (later of many a “super session”) might have played on that demo too, and he was definitely in the band’s orbit–he would soon contribute to a tune on their debut as the Chicago Loop. In 1966 their lineup grew to include bassist Carmine Riale and drummer John Siomos, and they worked with producer Bob Crewe (most famous for his work with the Four Seasons) for two singles on Crewe’s DynoVoice label. Bloomfield’s smokin’ guitar leads appeared on the A side of the first 45, “(When She Needs Good Lovin’) She Comes to Me,” which hit number 37 on the Billboard Hot 100.

The single also earned releases in the UK, Canada, France, the Netherlands, and Brazil–it represented the most sales success anyone in the band had seen at that point. The Chicago Loop’s work with Crewe also produced a fuzzed-out, punky cover of Simon & Garfunkel’s “Richard Cory,” released early in 1967, but by then Bloomfield had left, replaced by John Savanno. “Richard Cory” had just been covered by Van Morrison’s Them, and the Chicago Loop version hit number 98 on the Canadian charts but did nothing elsewhere.

Bloomfield moved to San Francisco, soon followed by Goldberg, to put together his band the Electric Flag. Slawson assembled a new Chicago Loop lineup and signed the group to Mercury Records. He and Novy were the only original members remaining–for their stint on Mercury, the other members included keyboardist Roy Hope, drummer P.J. Bailey, bassist George Miller, and a few different guitarists. The 1967 single “Saved” b/w “Can’t Find the Words” was a nice slab of garage pop, but it tanked. The Chicago Loop’s final release–and my favorite of theirs–is the wildly psychedelic 1968 single “Technicolor Thursday” b/w “Beginning at the End.” These catchy tunes, steeped in strange backward effects, spacey atmospherics, and guitar scuzz, were written by an outside songwriter, Christopher Welch–who also cowrote material later performed by Sonny & Cher and the Brady Bunch. The 45’s sound was right in line with plenty of music that charted in 1968, but it too failed, spelling the end of the Chicago Loop.

By then Crewe had already recruited Riale, Slawson, and Siomos to form the rhythm section of a horn-heavy ten-piece band backing bluesy rocker Mitch Ryder of “Devil With a Blue Dress On” fame–in February 1967 they’d first hit the road as the Mitch Ryder Show. Riale is credited as producer and arranger for a 1975 single, “She’s a Stone Freak,” by a funky band called Frog, and both he and Novy are credited as producers or sound technicians on a rare 12-inch released by folky, psychedelic “world music” group Annapurna in 1976. Bloomfield and Goldberg went on to have high-profile musical careers, of course, but I can’t track any other veterans of the Chicago Loop past the late 70s–the rest of their story remains a delicious mystery. v

The radio version of the Secret History of Chicago Music airs on Outside the Loop on WGN Radio 720 AM, Saturdays at 6 AM with host Mike Stephen. Past shows are archived here.

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The Chicago Loop’s sole hit featured guitar legend Mike BloomfieldSteve Krakowon October 9, 2020 at 11:00 am Read More »

Watch Cook County State’s Attorney Republican Candidate Pat O’Brien’s 30 minute interview tonite & tmw night in Cook County’s southern suburbs & towns: Comcast Cable Ch. 19 & WebJeff Berkowitzon October 8, 2020 at 8:56 pm

Public Affairs with Jeff Berkowitz

Watch Cook County State’s Attorney Republican Candidate Pat O’Brien’s 30 minute interview tonite & tmw night in Cook County’s southern suburbs & towns: Comcast Cable Ch. 19 & Web

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Watch Cook County State’s Attorney Republican Candidate Pat O’Brien’s 30 minute interview tonite & tmw night in Cook County’s southern suburbs & towns: Comcast Cable Ch. 19 & WebJeff Berkowitzon October 8, 2020 at 8:56 pm Read More »

What do you remember about John Lennon?Howard Mooreon October 9, 2020 at 5:12 am

I’ve Got The Hippy Shakes

What do you remember about John Lennon?

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What do you remember about John Lennon?Howard Mooreon October 9, 2020 at 5:12 am Read More »

16th Street and Strawdog examine racism and dystopiaKerry Reidon October 8, 2020 at 4:55 pm

How do you write dramas about dystopia and alienation in the middle of a pandemic, especially when the people in charge have seemingly signed a blood oath to a nihilist death cult? Isn’t doomscrolling Twitter enough to make most of us imagine the worst?

Two recent streaming productions–Rastus and Hattie by Lisa Langford, courtesy of Berwyn’s 16th Street Theater, and Run the Beast Down by Titas Halder with Strawdog–tackle the nature of time, history, historical trauma, and our own interior perceptions of truth, especially when we’re isolated from the world we thought we belonged in. And though both pieces were written before COVID-19, they deliver satisfyingly relevant and mind-bending results, thanks to stellar performances and adroit production values.

Rastus and Hattie

Rastus and Hattie premiered a year ago at the Cleveland Public Theatre and has been reimagined for 16th Street as an audio play, under the direction of Lanise Antoine Shelley. It’s a fitting coda to a year marked by heightened attention to racial justice and institutionalized white supremacy.

Langford was inspired in part by Westinghouse’s 1930s foray into creating prototype robots designed to look like Black men–one of whom was actually named “Rastus” and was also referred to as a “mechanical slave.” As Simone Browne, a professor of African and African Diaspora studies at the University of Texas at Austin notes in a 2017 presentation, Rastus’s cartoonish appearance fit with advertising images and other representations of Black people in popular culture. “These exaggerated representational practices worked to rationalize the economic exploitation of Black domestic workers, as well as those who labored in low-paying conditions in the service sector,” said Browne. (That economic exploitation has come into sharper focus as the pandemic has hit Black essential workers especially hard.)

Here, Rastus and his robot partner, Hattie, are servants in the home of Marlene (Kate Black-Spence) and David (Ryan Kitley). Marlene is best friends from childhood with Needra (Krystel McNeil), a Black scientist researching epigenetics, or the idea that trauma (such as that caused by slavery and racism) can leave a chemical mark on genes that is then passed down through generations. Needra is facing resistance from an adviser on how she’s presenting her findings, and an impending move to a university in Alabama, closer to the ancestral home of her husband Malik (David Goodloe).

The discovery that Marlene and David are using slave robots (which David inherited from his uncle, a researcher at Westinghouse) of course horrifies Needra and makes her question everything about her friendship with Marlene (played with pitch-perfect microaggression by Black-Spence).

But then they all, including Rastus (Colin Jones) and Hattie (Jasmine Bracey), find themselves moving backward in time to 1870 Alabama. And that’s when things get really dicey.

Langford’s script works some of the same sci-fi/horror territory as Octavia Butler’s 1979 masterpiece Kindred, in which a Black woman is repeatedly thrown back to a plantation in slavery-era Maryland, as well as the comic horror of Jordan Peele’s films. The latter comes through particularly in the framing of Marlene and David as “good” liberal white people who can’t see why having slave robots is such a big deal. (“I’m lazy and I’m greedy,” Marlene admits without a shred of guilt or shame.)

But the epigenetics thread weaves itself like a double helix through the story, reminding us that while Langford’s framing may be fantastical, the traumas of racism are not. Yet Needra’s initial impulse to “level the playing field by removing the trauma at a microlevel” may, as she comes to discover, carry its own problematic form of erasure.

It’s possible to just listen to Shelley’s cast on the Vimeo stream and enjoy the beautifully modulated back-and-forth debates and sidebar conversations among the characters. (Sound designer Olanrewaju Adewole and audio engineer Nathan Cox-Reed deserve props.) Langford has an indelible ear for dialogue, and it’s a treat to use our powers of imagination to conjure the contrasting worlds of present and past. But the production is greatly enhanced by the black-and-white illustrations of Roy Thomas (an undergrad from Ball State), who uses a silhouette aesthetic somewhat reminiscent of Kara Walker, but with his own nuanced use of grays that suggest the twilight world of race, science, and interpersonal relationships Langford’s characters are navigating.

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Gage Wallace in Run the Beast Down - KAMILLE DAWKINS

Run the Beast Down

The narrator in Halder’s solo play isn’t a robot, but he may remind you of Elliot Alderson, the tormented soul played by Rami Malek in USA Network’s Mr. Robot. Like Elliot, Charlie (Gage Wallace) suffers from crippling paranoia and isolation. He’s lost his job at a London stock trading firm and his girlfriend Alex–though he can’t stop himself from calling her. He’s also haunted by the idea that foxes have taken over his housing estate–a possible holdover from a childhood encounter in the woods near his home.

The show is presented in seven interludes, each introduced with its own title card. (The first, “Peter is Dead,” foreshadows the fate of a cat owned by Mrs. Winter, Charlie’s neighbor, who first warns him about the foxes.) The scenes are shot in separate rooms of a home seemingly under renovation or possibly demolition, with the walls in some cases stripped to the lathes, just as Charlie’s grip on reality also seems to be peeling down to the bones and his apartment becomes more bunker than sanctuary. (Kamille Dawkins’s videography captures the suffocating qualities of Charlie’s environment quite well.)

Wallace delivers a mesmerizing performance (sometimes in extreme close-up) under Elly Green’s precise direction. Like Mr. Robot, Charlie’s story takes place against a backdrop of capitalism melting down, and yet he’s fighting back like a cornered animal. And like Elliot, we’re well aware we’re in the company of a narrator who is beyond unreliable, but who still wins our empathy through his palpable pain. There are echoes of genocidal impulses in the attitudes of Mrs. Winter’s son, who believes the gangs of “feral” children in the neighborhood should be hunted like, well, foxes.

Run the Beast Down is, like Rastus and Hattie, a cunning and cutting parable for these strange days, indeed. v






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16th Street and Strawdog examine racism and dystopiaKerry Reidon October 8, 2020 at 4:55 pm Read More »

5 Best Corn Mazes & Pumpkin Patches Around ChicagoAudrey Snyderon October 8, 2020 at 7:15 pm

In the fading sunshine, amid crunchy leaves and cooler breezes, Chicagoans can soak up the last pleasant outdoor weather as we frolic through corn mazes, pick out our favorite seasonal gourds, and stuff our faces with tasty treats. Like the lifespan of a pumpkin that’s been plucked from its patch, carved, and lit from within, the fall season in Chicago— with its perfect temperatures and beautiful foliage— is fleeting. Enjoy the festivities while you can at these Chicago area pumpkin patches.

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Konow’s Corn Maze

16849 S Cedar Rd, Homer Glen IL 60491

Konow’s has not one but two corn mazes on its grounds— one for a casual, easy jaunt through some corn, and a second, more difficult and lengthy maze for those who are more *serious* about their outdoor fall activities. In addition to the mazes, you can pick out and purchase the perfect pumpkin, as well as plenty of warm, autumnal treats.

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Didier Farms

16678 W Aptakisic Rd, Lincolnshire IL 60069

Drive just 40 minutes north of the city to experience Didier Farms’ Pumpkinfest. This pumpkin farm near Chicago is open through the end of October and offers plenty of outdoor activities— including a corn maze and pumpkin-picking. Grab some fudge from the shop and work your way through the maze on a sunny fall day!

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Sonny Acres Farms

29W310 North Ave, West Chicago IL 60185

No corn maze here, but with a pumpkin patch, the Spook Shed, the Sonny Express (a small train that runs around the farm), pony rides, and more, this family-owned farm in West Chicago is a must-see for families with small children.

Johansen Farms

710 W Boughton Rd, Bolingbrook IL 60440

Travel to this corn maze and pumpkin patch near Chicago to enjoy mini golf, pony rides, and plenty of other activities. Visit the children’s zoo to hold baby chicks! When you’re worn out from walking the maze and playing putt-putt, stop at the bakery for some apple cider doughnuts or a pie!

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View Replay Lincoln Park’s Latest Fall Pop Up Bar

Need a good place for a date after you visit the pumpkin patches in Chicago? Try out Replay in Lincoln Park and their unique popups.

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Posted by Abbey Farms on Thursday, September 17, 2020

Abbey Farms

2855 Hart Rd, Aurora IL 60502

Featuring Kane County’s largest corn maze (covering 12 acres), Abbey Farms of Aurora is holding its COVID-friendly Pumpkin Daze event through November 1. Pick out your pumpkin from the 40-acre pumpkin farm, check out the petting zoo, and grab an apple cider or pumpkin spice doughnut (or one of each) before you go.

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Featured Image Credit: 16 Inch Softball Hall Of Fame Instagram Page

 
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5 Best Corn Mazes & Pumpkin Patches Around ChicagoAudrey Snyderon October 8, 2020 at 7:15 pm Read More »