Chicago Reader

The Chicago Reader, often referred to as Reader (stylized as ЯEADER), is a well-known alternative weekly newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois. It is recognized for its unique literary approach to journalism and its in-depth coverage of the arts, especially film and theater. The publication was established by a group of friends who graduated from Carleton College.

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English

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#92745

United States

#33382

News and Media

#1510

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Articles

Reader Bites: Tonkotsu ramen at Alice & Friends' Vegan Kitchen

15 hours ago | chicagoreader.com | Micco Caporale

Reader Bites celebrates dishes, drinks, and atmospheres from the Chicagoland food scene. Have you had a recent food or drink experience that you can’t stop thinking about? Share it with us at [email protected]. Tonkotsu ramen is a Western favorite of Japanese cuisine because it’s peak East-meets-West comfort food.
The Secret History of Chicago Music turns 20

16 hours ago | chicagoreader.com | Steve Krakow

Since 2005 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. As of this month, I’ve been writing and illustrating the Secret History of Chicago Music for 20 years, and that whole time I’ve struggled with what to call it.
Review: Friendship

2 days ago | chicagoreader.com | Maxwell Rabb

There is no guidebook to friendship. A coworker, a friend of a friend, a neighbor—forming a genuine emotional connection with someone new only gets harder with time. This is particularly true for adult men, many of whom suffer from seemingly incurable emotional ineptitude, missing the social tools (or vulnerability) needed to form these bonds. It’s almost absurd how closed off—or awkward—they can be.
Remembering Fred Anzevino and Shirley Mordine

5 days ago | chicagoreader.com | Kerry Reid

Even in a timeline where loss feels overwhelming, the last couple of weeks have been tough for the theater and dance community, with the deaths of Fred Anzevino on April 28 and Shirley Mordine on May 2. (For those of us in journalism, the May 1 death of Michael Miner, former longtime editor and media columnist for the Reader, was also a punch to the gut.)Anzevino, 67, was the founder and artistic director of the company now known as Theo, but founded in 1997 as Theo Ubique Theatre.
An interview with cookbook author Hailee Catalano - Chicago Reader

5 days ago | chicagoreader.com | Taryn McFadden

Chef Hailee Catalano celebrates her debut cookbook, By Heart: Recipes to Hold Near and Dear, with a midwest homecoming.
Logan Oyster Socials shucks again at Monday Night Foodball

6 days ago | chicagoreader.com | Mike Sula

Oysters are survivors. After all, they made it through the Permian–Triassic extinction event, aka the Great Dying, 251.9 million years ago when volcanic eruptions snuffed out 81 percent of all marine species. What the arousing bivalves can’t survive is the wanton over lemonizing and cocktail saucing of unthinking bipedal meatbags. They didn’t come all this way to die by mignonette.
Yalin Zhao turns insomnia into art

6 days ago | chicagoreader.com | Lori Waxman

In the project 60 wrd/min art critic, writer Lori Waxman explores how art writing can serve an expanded field of artists—including those incarcerated, trying to gain visas, working to establish themselves professionally, or just wanting feedback for a secret hobby. For this iteration, Waxman reviewed work made by Chicago artist Yalin Zhao.
Review: The Surfer

6 days ago | chicagoreader.com | Maxwell Rabb

The Surfer opens with Nicolas Cage in classic form—shades on behind the wheel of his silver Lexus—musing on how surfing serves as the perfect metaphor for life. His unnamed character waxes poetically to his son (Finn Little) about the ocean and its waves, which he describes as “a short shock of violence on the shore.” It is a fitting forewarning of what is to come. The surfer and his son arrive at Luna Bay, a pristine Australian beach where our protagonist was raised.
Review: Magic Farm

6 days ago | chicagoreader.com | Maxwell Rabb

What happens when a team of culture vultures descends on a small community in search of a story? For years, Vice showed us that reality—and we’re living in the wake of that gonzo-journalism fever dream every day. Director Amalia Ulman’s sophomore feature, Magic Farm, plunges headfirst into the chaotic, contradictory world of trend-hungry journalists. Chloë Sevigny plays Edna, a veteran documentarian guiding, albeit poorly, a wacky menagerie of wannabes.
Stress Positions stick to their guns

6 days ago | chicagoreader.com | Jamie Ludwig

Chicago hardcore group Stress Positions are sitting outside a watering hole in the Dutch city of Tilburg, but they’re not far enough from home that they don’t have fans around. A couple of Finnish guys approach the band and ask to take a picture with them. “We don’t usually have fanboy moments,” one of them says. “But oh my god, I’m melting.”I’m interviewing Stress Positions while they’re at the Roadburn Festival on a brief tour of Europe and the UK.