If you’re looking for music that pulls no punches, head over to Subterranean (2011 W. North) this weekend for Dreary North Fest, three nights of extreme music running the gamut from difficult noise and grindcore to experimental hip-hop and “postapocalyptic metal” (as Reader senior writer Leor Galil describes the wonderfully named band Urine Hell in his preview of the festival). It’s not for everyone, but if you know, you know. Tonight’s lineup boasts grind from the Virginia band Suppression (in the last performance slot of the evening, which organizers estimate as 12:50 AM), Chicago hip-hop duo Angry Blackmen (9:40 PM), and a dizzying array of more bands, starting at 2:30 PM. Dreary North continues Saturday and Sunday (2 PM until the wee hours both days). More information is available at the organizers’s Facebook page and advance tickets are available at Subterranean’s website. (SCJ)
And “Bidi Bidi Bom Bom” may not resonate with everyone either, but if you know, you know. The National Museum of Mexican Art certainly knows, as they host a Selena Tribute Concert tonight at Pritzker Pavilion (201 E. Randolph). The free evening dedicated to the queen of Tejano music features performances from singers Jennifer Peña and Sarah La Morena, Selena impersonator Karla Perez, Mariachi Perla de Mexico with Tessa Lopez, and drag performance by Ivanna Rubio, Venus Carangi, Angelicia Diamond, Illana’s Illusion, and Luna La Catrina. The presentation starts at 6 PM, and more information is available at the National Museum of Mexican Art’s website. (SCJ)
The singer Selena performed her last televised concert at Houston’s Astrodome in 1995.
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Code of the Freaks, Chicago director Salome Chasnoff’s 2020 collaboration with the late writer Susan Nussbaum and scholars Alyson Patsavas and Carrie Sandahl, enjoys its world theatrical premiere tonight at the Gene Siskel Film Center (164 N. State). The documentary studies the often discriminatory practices of mainstream filmmaking and Hollywood productions which choose ableism over featuring human stories and disabled creators. Reader contributor Colleen Morrissey previewed Code of the Freaks and spoke to Nussbaum and Chasnoff for us in May. Tonight’s 6:30 PM screening will be followed by a discussion with Chasnoff, and then a 9 PM screening of Tod Browning’s 1932 film Freaks (which inspired Code of the Freaks’s title). You can also catch the documentary tomorrow or Sunday at 2 PM. Advance tickets and more information are available at the Film Center’s website. (SCJ)
It’s the closing weekend for “All That Light,” the survey show focused on ten years of the Artists-in-Residence program shepherded by the University of Chicago’s Arts + Public Life initiative along with the Center for the Study of Race, Politics, and Culture. You can check out the exhibition at its two gallery locations (Arts Incubator, 301 E. Garfield, and Logan Center for the Arts, 915 E. 60th) during regular hours through Sunday (noon-7 PM today through Sunday for Arts Incubator; Logan is 9 AM-9 PM today and tomorrow, 11 AM-9 PM on Sunday). The Logan Center for the Arts also hosts tonight’s All That Light performance showcase, featuring exhibition participants AJ McClenon, Amina Ross, Aquil “AQ” Charlton, avery r. young, LeRoy Bach, and Yaw Agyeman. The free performance (registration requested at Eventbrite) starts at 7 PM, and is preceded by a 6 PM tour of the Logan Center’s portion of the show with curator Tracie D. Hall. More information is available at the Arts + Public Life website. (SCJ)
Shattered Globe Theatre kicks off its season with the local premiere of Stew, Zora Howard’s 2021 Pulitzer Prize finalist about the women of the Tucker family, whose collective attempt to make the title dish ends up peeling back onionlike layers of conflict and comradeship in their shared history. Malkia Stampley directs a cast that includes Velma Austin, Demetra Dee, Jazzma Pryor, and Jasmine Cheri Rush. Previews begin tonight at 8 PM at Theater Wit (1229 W. Belmont); the show runs through 10/22 (Thu-Sat 8 PM, Sun 3 PM). Tonight, tickets are pay what you can; other performances run $25-$45, with discounts for students and seniors. Visit sgtheatre.org for info and reservations. (KR)
