Salem Collo-Julin

1 week ago | chicagoreader.com | Jack Silverstein |Salem Collo-Julin

Everybody has an image in their mind of what it means to be an athlete in our society. I paint my fingernails. I color my hair. I sometimes wear women’s clothes. I want to challenge people’s image of what an athlete is supposed to be. I like bringing out the feminine side of Dennis Rodman. Dennis Rodman, from his bestselling 1996 memoir Bad As I Wanna BeThe year was 1996, and Leslie Feinberg had a hot new book and a press tour and a revelation: Her subtitle was wrong.

1 week ago | chicagoreader.com | Salem Collo-Julin |Salem Collo-Julin

Texas singer-songwriter Edith Frost makes soulful fusions of country rock and folk in step with moody indie-country architects such as Susanna Clark and Townes Van Zandt. Whether she’s singing about depression, love, or hitting hurdles while trying to move forward, the messages in her lyrics are crystal clear. Set to easy back-porch piano, guitar, and drums, her songs evoke obscure early-70s private-press releases as well as the talkative, heady styles that flavored the early-90s indie-folk scene.

2 weeks ago | chicagoreader.com | Salem Collo-Julin |Salem Collo-Julin

The persnickety part of my brain would like to remind you that it’s not technically summer this year in the northern hemisphere until Friday, June 20. I’m being stubborn about it because the rest of my body is mourning colder weather. I know I’m in the minority for loving Chicago’s winters, but I expect some of you will start changing your minds as we continue on our hurtling trajectory toward being a world on fire.

3 weeks ago | chicagoreader.com | Salem Collo-Julin |Salem Collo-Julin

The Chicago Blues Festival reliably offers a constellation of opportunities to explore an original American music genre in the city that made it great. Chicago has recently lost some venues to bankruptcy, pandemic woes, or family issues (thinking fondly of Harlem Avenue Lounge and B.L.U.E.S. on Halsted), but the local blues community is still hustling and going strong.

3 weeks ago | chicagoreader.com | Matthew Roling |Salem Collo-Julin

Growing up in rural Wisconsin, my first real taste of independence came in the form of my parents’ wood-paneled Ford station wagon, complete with the obligatory rear-facing third-row seat. Just as vividly as I remember getting burned by that car’s seat belt buckles in the dog days of summer, I remember our first family trip to Chicago—taking the Amtrak from Milwaukee, stepping into Union Station, hearing the rumble of the el, and riding the articulated buses as they snaked around the Loop.