Chicago Cultural News - News, Photos and More on the Windy Citizen

New mural highlights West Side agency's work among homeless

Fri, 22 Aug 2008 11:16:45 -0500

Chicago Public Art Group recently dedicated the latest public art project it sponsored -- a long mural on a curving wall of the Chicago Christian Industrial League (CCIL) in North Lawndale. CCIL is a nonprofit social service agency that provides clothing, shelter and training and guidance services to homeless men, women and children.

The 107-foot mural, "Connections 2008," includes a variety of motifs that represent the mission and aspirations of CCIL, which will celebrate its centennial next year:

Lawyer/Musician Mike Roman takes a musical stand

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 00:00:05 -0500

Mike Roman's electric guitar weaves a spicy trail through the summertime air. He tucks his chin close to the collar of his brown button-up shirt, his fingers flying over the strings, his foot tapping in time to the music. "It's time to dance the cha-cha." The words float across the crowd, mingled with bright brass and summer rain maracas.

Web 'zine gives teen girls their say, connects voices from around the world

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 00:00:05 -0500

Anyone who says teens are lazy hasn't met the young women of Girlspeak. Each staff member of the literary Web 'zine, produced every summer at Young Chicago Authors in Wicker Park, has something to say to girls all over the world and has spent her summer getting ideas down on paper.

Chicago native Bernie Mac laid to rest

Sun, 17 Aug 2008 18:26:24 -0500

Chicago laid to rest one of its own Saturday in a crowded House of Hope Church on the South Side.

Family, friends and fellow Kings of Comedy spun stories about comedian and actor Bernie Mac before saying goodbye, only for so long. About 7,000 people paid their respects, laughed, cried, prayed and celebrated a man who never left Chicago even when fame finally came calling well into his career.

Mac's wife Rhonda and daughter Je'neice Childress were joined by Mac's Kings of Comedy documentary costars Cedric the Entertainer, D.L. Hughley and Steve Harvey as well as Chris Rock, George Wallace, Jesse Jackson Sr. and Samuel L. Jackson.

Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama and Oprah Winfrey sent condolences read to the family and congregation.

Mac died last week due to complications from pnuemonia. He was 50.

Eclectic rockers Brilliant Pebbles cause ripples in local music scene

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 00:00:05 -0500

“I’m trying to see some people I know … this is more awkward than I’d thought,” said Brilliant Pebbles lead singer Monika Bukowska as she threaded her way through the crowd of hipsters at the Wicker Park Fest on a bright Sunday in late July. Ostensibly, she and keyboardist Samuel Ng were out promoting the show they would play a few hours later at Double Door.

Pizza and Polaroids (oh, and some other stuff, too)

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 11:54:21 -0500

There have been a lot of great reports in the Citizen this week on everything from the Olympics to polaroids. In this post-Lollapalooza world, however, with my throat still sore from Grant Park's dust and my room still a mess of piles of dirt-encrusted clothes, it's difficult for me to find or think of anything else for a weekend recap. Luckily, there's no lack of stories to draw upon. Here's what you should know going into what will hopefully be a calmer next few days...

Museum curator shows off feathered collection

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 00:00:05 -0500

David Willard spends his days around half a million birds. Stunning birds of paradise with soft tail feathers and iridescent chests; pipsqueak hummingbirds smaller than a human thumb; woodpeckers with stately beaks. Not one squawk escapes from any of them, however. They are all dead.

Latino Theatre Festival kicks off today at Goodman Theatre

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 00:00:05 -0500

The fourth biennial Latino Theatre Festival kicks off Friday at the Goodman Theatre. Showcasing performances from Latin America, New York and Chicago, the festival will feature works in both English and Spanish (some with super-titles).

The festival runs through August 24 and includes multiple performances of 13 works, including four staged readings of new works by Latino playwrights. For the first time in its history, this year's festival will include music and dance, not to mention puppetry, a children's performance and a one-woman show.

Walking the walk

Thu, 07 Aug 2008 14:25:39 -0500

By now, the 15 life-size prehistoric creatures in the animatronic spectacle "Walking with Dinosaurs -- The Live Experience" have arrived at Chicago's United Center in a convoy of trucks, and their chaperones -- a far larger assemblage of homo sapiens -- have begun setting up shop.

So you might very well excuse that "girl" known as Sue, who hangs out at the Field Museum, if she decided to gather up her big-boned frame, lope down the stairs of her permanent "home" and set off to indulge herself in a little cash therapy and rejuvenation.

After all, no matter how formidable a suggestion of a Tyrannosaurus rex you might be (and Sue is pretty impressive), if you're a fossil you're essentially just a stabile skeleton -- incapable of chasing your prey, chomping away with your razor-sharp teeth or even emitting a periodic fearsome growl. And if a platoon of Australian-bred dinosaurs suddenly invades your turf in what might be described as a living history stage show --well, that just might be the final indignity. And an attempt at querying the Field Museum staff about "the competition" was met with this response from press representative Greg Borzo: " "None of our scientists or people in the exhibitions department feel that they want to comment on 'Walking with Dinosaurs.' But they hope people will come to visit the museum's permanent display, 'Evolving Planet'."

Chicago photographers lament the end of the Polaroid

Thu, 07 Aug 2008 03:25:14 -0500

Along with the 8-track, cassette tapes, vinyl records and so many other things, the Polaroid instant photo as we know it may soon become a thing of the past. The company announced in February that it will stop producing its once-popular instant cameras and accompanying film by the end of 2008.