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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.
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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.
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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.
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3 weeks ago | 
chicagoreader.com | Salem Collo-Julin |Salem Collo-Julin
One of the selling points of Chicago, in my opinion, is the variety of higher education institutions that are headquartered here. Many of them offer doctoral degrees (University of Illinois Chicago, Loyola, Chicago State, Illinois Institute of Technology, University of Chicago, just to name a few).
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1 month ago | 
chicagoreader.com | Salem Collo-Julin |Salem Collo-Julin
If you spot a lot more black motorcycle vests, tall leather boots, and harnesses on gorgeous people in various neighborhoods, including the Loop and Rogers Park, it’s because Chicago is hell-bent on leather and ready for this year’s International Mr. Leather (IML) weekend.
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1 month ago | 
chicagoreader.com | Salem Collo-Julin |Salem Collo-Julin
Singer, composer, and multi-instrumentalist Rhiannon Giddens has dedicated much of her career to exploring folk and roots music, including old-time, blues, Celtic folk, country, and gospel. In April, she teamed up with fiddler Justin Robinson, her former bandmate in old-time string band the Carolina Chocolate Drops, to release the banjo-and-fiddle duo album What Did the Blackbird Say to the Crow (Nonesuch).
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2 months ago | 
chicagoreader.com | Salem Collo-Julin |Salem Collo-Julin
So my father died in January. He was 75, within the range of U.S. mens’ average life expectancy (it’s anywhere from 74 to 77 years old depending on if you believe the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the World Bank, or Johns Hopkins University). It still feels like too soon. He was living with a heart condition and some mental health concerns, including PTSD from serving in Vietnam and Cambodia.
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2 months ago | 
chicagoreader.com | Salem Collo-Julin |Salem Collo-Julin
Bobby and Bobbie Vylan aren’t siblings, but as the duo Bob Vylan, these London artists hammer together punk, hip-hop, and drum ’n’ bass to make music that could soundtrack a radical brotherhood. The title track of last year’s Humble as the Sun (released on their Ghost Theatre imprint) combines an easy-listening groove with an increasingly emphatic narrative that moves between personal and political.
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2 months ago | 
chicagoreader.com | Salem Collo-Julin |Salem Collo-Julin
We couldn’t miss giving you a 4/20 edition! Many dispensaries, smoke lounges, and CBD shops are running sales this month with special deals on items like prerolls, topicals, and accessories. Here are some cannabis-related events to check out. Some are meant to make you get in the door and shop, and some are just ganja-inspired, but be warned: none of these are family-friendly, and most are 21+ only (assume adults only unless we note differently below). Smoke ’em if you got ’em.
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2 months ago | 
chicagoreader.com | Salem Collo-Julin |Salem Collo-Julin
Last year around this time we were standing in the middle of Lincoln Park Zoo with some of you, watching two of the female lions remind us that they’re actual wild animals by grabbing two ducks from the air and chowed down on them, right there in the lion enclosure. It was the Best of Chicago’s Animal Kingdom, a fitting if unscripted moment for our Best of Chicago party that night.
