Last month we wrote about the Opportunity Shop, a temporary art and community space in Hyde Park that was supposed to last only through the end of April. It proved so popular, and the donations proved so plentiful, that the Op Shop was extended through the beginning of June. This Saturday night is the Op Shop’s second-to-last party, and they’ve booked a handful of local bands to play: Lakesigns, the Names that Spell, Jesus Crisis, and Squat the Condos. The show starts at 8, with doors opening a half hour before that. A $2 suggested donation will get you in, or a $5 suggested donation will get you admission and “a Dixie cup to fill with whatever you want (there will be fillings),” according to Lakesigns multi-instrumentalist Eric Mayer. And mark your calendars a week from Saturday for the art space’s closing event, the Op Shop Ball.

(Laura M. Browning/Chicagoist)

The good folks over at Chicagoist have started showcasing the many murals on the South Side. This week’s entry in their mural series is located at the Metra underpass at 56th Street and Stony Island. The mural, Childhood is Without Prejudice, features children of many races with their faces interlocked in Venn diagrams. William Walker, the artist, was one of the founders of the community art movement in the 1960s and painted many notable murals throughout Chicago, such as All of Mankind (1972) on the Strangers Home Missionary Church and the Wall of Respect (1967), now demolished.

The last mural showcased, Where We Come From… Where We’re Going (1992), also has an incredibly interesting story. Artist and UIC professor Olivia Gude, who has written a book about urban art in Chicago, stood outside the 56th and Lake Park Metra underpass and took down the stories of the passersby. She then painted their stories, omitting any names.

Childhood is Without Prejudice was restored last year, and the Chicago Public Art Group is behind many of the restorations that have taken place around the South Side. In addition to restoring historic public art, CPAG does quite a bit of work encouraging new artists, designing public art projects, and encouraging community development. They also have a handy map of all the public art around  the Chicago area.

The Chicago Weekly, Metropolis Coffee, and the University of Chicago’s Student Run Coffee Shops invite you to a coffee tasting on the UofC’s campus. The tasting will take place at Hallowed Grounds (5706 S. University, 2nd floor) tomorrow, April 8th, from 5-7pm. For $5, witness a cupping session, hear performances by local bands Lakesigns and Sparrowdown, and enjoy a variety of desserts!

Tony Dreyfuss, owner of Metropolis Coffee, will be coming in to demonstrate a cupping session and discuss some of his recent adventures to Ethiopia to get beans. Stacey Brown, Coffee Shop Coordinator at the UofC, will be leading a coffee tasting, where we get to know what we’re drinking.

All proceeds of the event will go to promoting local journalism!

(Ellis Calvin)

Coffee shops sometimes have great food, restaurants can have outstanding drinks, and bars even occasionally serve excellent coffee. The South Loop’s Little Branch Cafe is a rare combination of all of the above, as we reviewed in our 2009 Best of the South Side.

The comfortably elegant Little Branch Cafe has been expanding their menu since opening in 2007, most recently adding a heavenly-sounding dinner menu. With dishes like a Croque Madam [sic] Crepe, Warm Mediterranean Farro Salad (“toasted pine nuts, roasted red peppers, sun-dried tomatoes, goat cheese, eggplant puree, balsalmic vinaigrette”), and the Little Branch Burger (“fontina red onion gratin, truffle oil roasted mushrooms, garlic aioli served with sweet potato fries & habanero raspberry ketchup”) added to their selection of sandwiches, espresso drinks, and cocktails, I can’t wait to go back. Finding a place that skillfully handles this trinity of modern urban living (great coffee, great food, great booze) can be tough. Finding Little Branch Cafe can be tough too, so be sure to take a look at a map before setting out.

1251 S. Prairie Ave. Monday-Tuesday, 7am-4pm; Wednesday-Friday, 7am-10pm; Saturday, 8am-10pm; Sunday, 8am-8pm. (312)360-0202 littlebranchcafe.com

(courtesy of Liren Chen/Flickr)

An early morning fire spread through the kitchen of popular Chinatown restaurant Lao Sze Chuan. The blaze also damaged two neighboring restaurants in the Chinatown Square complex, but no one was injured. Although Lao Sze Chuan will likely be closed for a while, the indefatigable chef and “culinary superhero” Tony Hu has two other excellent restaurants nearby, Lao Beijing and Lao Shanghai. This fire follows a little over a year after another beloved Chinatown restaurant, Penang, succumbed to a kitchen fire. (via Gapers Block)

On a happier note, Chicagoist is reporting that the 47th Street Marketplace, destroyed by a fire in January, should be open again soon. Repairs are underway, and tenants such as Blu47 and the Jamaican Consulate are expected to be able to return in three to four months, according to building owner East Lake Management.

Gapers Block recently published an article and video about Chicago’s street vendors, many of whom can be found on the sidewalks of Little Village selling elotes (corn with mayo, cheese, and chili powder), chicharrones (pork rinds), and other cheap, delicious snacks. It’s currently illegal to sell food that’s been prepared at a street cart in Chicago, and the Little Village-based Asociación de Vendedores Ambulantes (AVA) is lobbying the city to create a new license that would allow them to do so. You can read more about the issue in an In These Times article by CW writer Robin Peterson.

This Saturday, Shades, Yale University’s youngest a cappella group, is performing at the University of Chicago International House. Shades’ repertoire draws on many different musical backgrounds, but its focus is on African-American music, particularly R&B, gospel, jazz, pop, and traditional music.  Having attended several Shades performances, I can attest to the true talent of the group. And normally I am a music snob. But their tone is rich, and their harmonies are tight.  And it doesn’t hurt that the group is incredibly good-looking across the board.  Some of the songs they’ve showcased have ranged from Mary J. Blige’s “Real Love” to a traditional Caribbean mineworker song (adapted from “Sweet Honey in the Rock”). The performance is free, but donations are encouraged.

Shades will perform at the International House at 8pm on Saturday, March 13th. Catch a video of their recent performance in San Diego here.

Chicago may be the third-largest city in America, but it seems to get passed over time after time when it comes to reality show locations. Ever since the eleventh season of the Real World vacated its Wicker Park loft in 2002, the only reality TV series set in Chicago was part of Top Chef’s 2008 season. (Unless I’m forgetting anything?) Now, though, it looks like reality television may be coming to the South Side, as the Southtown Star announces a casting agency is looking for “buff, hot, sexy, crazy, fun, outgoing” participants for a “Jersey Shore”-type series set in these parts.  No details yet about the show beyond that, but if you’ve got a colorful personality and nothing better to do, see the Star article for how to apply.

In last week’s issue I wrote about poet Charles Bernstein, who gave a reading on the University of Chicago’s campus on February 14.  Here is the interview that I did with Bernstein the previous day. Read the rest of this entry »

Bon Appetit magazine’s Restaurant Editor, Andrew Knowlton, includes Dat Donuts as one of the “Top 10 Best Places for Donuts” in the country.  Dat joins the ranks with Thomas Keller’s Bouchon Bakery in Yountville, CA—a far cry from the South Side of Chicago, but arguably better as the “purists’” first choice.

A former Chicago Weekly writer and Features Editor like Katie Buitrago! All of us at the Weekly want to congratulate Katie on her excellent feature in the most recent Chicago Reader, “What sort of woman reads Playboy?” It’s about Peggy Wilkins, a forty-something Hyde Park resident and University of Chicago Library server technician, who has worked her way to the top of Playboy Magazine fandom. She’s even had to rent an second apartment above the one she shares with her boyfriend to store her exhaustive collection of magazines and posters. So what drives Wilkins’s passion? Read the article to find out!

One of the countless photos for sale: Patrolman Bill Edwards studies a map of Hyde Park, January 2, 1968 (Chicago Sun-Times)

A rummage sale is always a great way to make a few dollars while getting rid of all that clutter. The Chicago Sun-Times, which could certainly use a little extra cash, has decided to clean out its archives and put up thousands (yes, thousands) of original photographic prints up for sale on eBay. Starting at $9.99, the photos range from mundane to surreal, from humorous to beautiful.

During a graduate seminar at UIC in 2008, Joe Baldwin came up with an idea for a mobile garden attached to a CTA train that would travel around the city bringing a bit of green into all of our lives. On Saturday he announced on his website that the CTA has approved the project. No word yet on when the garden will appear. [via Hugh Bartling]

In this week’s issue, we had a piece on poet Rae Armantrout, who was in the area for a reading and talk last week. Here is the rest of the interview with Armantrout, as conducted by Weekly writer Daniel Benjamin over email; follow-up questions, conducted in person and lightly edited, are preceded by an asterisk.

You have written about this before, in interviews and in your memoir True, but I’m wondering if you could say something about how your upbringing, education, and poetic influences have figured into your poetry?

I was alone a lot when I was growing up. I was an only child and there was alcoholism in my family so I often wanted to stay out of the way. I think that has affected my work in a couple of ways. First, I tended to entertain myself by reading and writing. And then, of course, I was a lonely child. I think that original loneliness shows up in my poems. I often seem to be looking at things from a distance. I don’t know how confessional I want to get here. As I’ve said before, my mother was a fundamentalist. That means I was exposed to the Bible. When I was looking for reading material, it was always there in all its strangeness. On the other hand, my exposure to dogma made me ornery. Read the rest of this entry »

The Jibarito (jntolva/Flickr)

Dining Chicago has an article up on four incredible-sounding Chicago sandwiches that haven’t yet acquired the same status as the Chicago hot dog or Polish. You’ve got the jibarito, a Puerto Rican steak sandwich between two crispy fried plantains, and the big baby, a sort of double cheeseburger with a particular list of condiments and probably invented by a man unfortunate to have the name Nick Vaginas. Then you’ve got the Freddy, an Italian sausage sandwich created by Calabria Imports founder Benito Russo, and finally, the mother-in-law, which is a… well, you should just read the article. The last three have South Side origins, even the jibarito can be found outside its Humboldt Park birthplace at places like Desde Puerto Rico in South Chicago. Be sure to check out Fat Johnnie’s Famous Red Hots for the mother-in-law, and Nicky’s the Real McCoy for a big baby.

Do some good for Haitian disaster relief–and your sweet tooth–by checking out the charity bakesale held tomorrow from 2-6 pm at the Medici on 57th Bakery (1327 E 57th St.)  All proceeds are given directly to Doctors Without Borders and Oxfam, and goodies will be available from individual volunteers and pro bakeries from across the city, including Bleeding Heart Bakery, Jimmy Jamm Sweet Potato Pies, and Luscious Layers Bakery. More info, including the full list of participating bakeries and items (gluten-free goods should be available too), is here.

Courtesy of Golden Age

Golden Age, a Pilsen gallery and “concept shop” whose exhibitions we’ve covered before, is moving to the West Loop, according to an announcement posted on their website yesterday. In our October 2008 feature on galleries in West Pilsen, co-founder Marco Kane Braunschweiler spoke highly of the neighborhood around Golden Age. “Where there’s open storefronts [around here], those storefronts often turn into galleries,” he told us. “It seems likely that there’ll be a lot more art spaces.” Things are looking a bit different in Pilsen these days, with galleries moving out or closing right and left.

Golden Age’s last open day at its current location will be Sunday, January 24, and they expect to open at their new (undisclosed) location in the West Loop late next month.

Memphis garage-punk rocker Jay Reatard was found dead yesterday morning, cause unknown. When we covered him two years ago, before his show at Reggie’s Rock Club, he told us Chicago was his favorite place to play. Chicago will miss him today.

South of Roosevelt “resides an art community that is often invisible to the mainstream,” writes Andre Guichard in the first post on his new blog, Fine Art South of Roosevelt Road. As an artist and the director of Gallery Guichard in Bronzeville, Guichard is a tireless promoter of art of the African diaspora, and the blog promises to continue this work by introducing readers to more than one hundred artists and collectors south of Roosevelt. It will also include updates about art events and exhibitions.

Our indicted former governor Rod Blagojevich will be speaking and signing his new memoir, “The Governor,” at the University of Chicago Bookstore (Barnes & Noble) this week.

The signing will take place Tuesday, December 8, at 2pm.

From the Times’s review:

His publicist has described the book, published by Phoenix Books, as a “six-figure deal.” But in his writing, Mr. Blagojevich seems to have a specific message for the public, and perhaps more precisely, for those who might sit on his jury in a federal trial next year: He did nothing corrupt, though others have. He then lays out what he portrays as Chicago’s gritty, crass political rules, established long before him, in which power is traded for favors.

…

Ms. Aimen suggested that Mr. Blagojevich might struggle to keep his own legal team because of his desire to talk openly about the charges. “I think he must be a hard guy to handle,” she said.

For those who don’t remember his term, this quote from a press conference about sums it up: “It’s like the little boy with a pile of horse manure, I kept digging cheerfully in that and found a pony in there — the pony is free public transportation for all seniors in the state of Illinois.”