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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#92745

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#33382

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#1510

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Articles

Hip-hop prodigy Kaicrewsade puts community first

1 day ago | chicagoreader.com | Joshua Eferighe

City of Win is a series curated by Isiah “ThoughtPoet” Veney and written by Joshua Eferighe that uses prose and photography to create portraits of Chicago musicians and cultural innovators working to create positive change in their communities. When I played my friend “Match?” and “Slow Dancing to Liv.e,” the newest singles from Chicago rapper Kaicrewsade, she immediately knew she was hearing something special.
Niis’s raging punk draws from the best of LA’s classic scenes

3 days ago | chicagoreader.com | Micco Caporale

If you’ve ever shopped the flippantly playful clothing line Fashion Brand Company, you’ll probably recognize Mimi Doe. She’s one of the company’s most frequently featured models—the redhead with the Crass tattoo—and she’s also the front person for Los Angeles punk band Niis.
Arnold Dreyblatt draws maelstroms of energy from excited strings - Chicago Reader

3 days ago | chicagoreader.com | Bill Meyer

When you visit Arnold Dreyblatt’s website, you’re confronted with a choice—artist or composer. Whichever you choose, you’ll be drawn into a world that challenges your senses. The American-born polymath, based in Berlin since 1984, has created visual works such as Memory Lost, Last Europeans?, and Inmates whose images and text manifest hidden stories or tantalize the viewer with layered texts that transcends what they could do on their own.
Self-described gunk-pop trio Black Ends revitalize alt-rock with Psychotic Spew

6 days ago | chicagoreader.com | Jamie Ludwig

Black Ends are a Seattle punk trio of vocalist-guitarist Nicolle Swims, bassist Ben Swanson, and drummer Billie Jessica Paine. In order to describe their idiosyncratic combination of scruffy bubblegum hooks, raw guitar wizardry, and unapologetic indie-rock weirdness, they coined the term “gunk pop,” which inclines plenty of folks (whether the band like it or not) to see them as heirs to the city’s famous indie-rock legacy, from the grunge days onward.
Xiaohan Jiang’s plaintive pastoral landscapes

1 week 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 Xiaohan Jiang. Xiaohan JiangDoes Xiaohan Jiang dream of horses? Her paintings surely do.
Green season: cannabis events

1 week 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.
The Notations have never left 60s soul behind

1 week 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. Chicago has made huge contributions to soul music, and many of the city’s best-known groups—including the Emotions, the Chi-Lites, and Earth, Wind & Fire—continue to perform occasionally, decades after their peaks.
Romance language

1 week ago | chicagoreader.com | Kerry Reid

Irish dramatist Brian Friel set much of his work in the fictional Donegal town of Ballybeg; in 1980’s Translations, now in a lovely revival at Writers Theatre under Braden Abraham’s direction, he showed us how the name of the town changed from the Irish Baile Beag (literally “small town”) to the Anglicized version.
Bunny angst - Chicago Reader

1 week ago | chicagoreader.com | Kerry Reid

Deven (Colin Callahan) is an angst-filled brown bunny in a Misfits T-shirt who spends his days commiserating with his fellow goth Penelope (Al Duffy). Since the latter is a porcupine, she’s already used to people finding her (and her quills) a little off-putting. Life’s hard enough when you’re an angry kid about to turn 13 in an aggressively upbeat place like Merry Town, where every day starts with an ode to how neat everything is.
Henry, portrait of a patsy

1 week ago | chicagoreader.com | Kerry Reid

Many years ago, my late sister got a job right out of law school working for Bernie Mamet, father of former Chicago playwright David. One time, she told me, they went to court together and Bernie gave his name to the court reporter, who asked, “Any relation to David?” “Yeah, I’m his father.” “Well, I bet you taught him everything he knows.” To which Bernie replied, “I taught him everything he knows.