“Art is creativity. It’s about touching other people,” espoused artist Luis DeLaTorre this past weekend during an open studio event at the Bridgeport Art Center.

The converted warehouse has rented studio space to artists, now numbering over forty individuals, for the past eleven years. The community of artists opened their doors to the public for an event held as part of the Chicago Artists Month.

DeLaTorre was engaged in a discussion about an artist’s purpose with fellow artist JB Daniel, who is based out of a studio in Pullman. This afternoon’s experience was quickly transcending my expectations of a mere gallery viewing. I felt like a spying child, overhearing a conversation not meant for my ears. I had seen De La Torre’s work on display for all to see, but was now taking part in his private lament of the commoditization of art.

The conversation was interrupted by DeLaTorre’s computer loudly proclaiming the hour, and he explained that these hourly reminders helped him stay on track while working in the studio.

Time-keeping computers, coffee makers, an exercise bike, a small dog, imposing music – all these were the incredibly human touches that leant poignancy to the crossing of each studio’s threshold. The spaces seemed almost too personal to admit visitors.

Yet this intimacy, once broached, greatly enriched interaction with the art displayed through the halls, in the main gallery, and in individual studios, by thrusting it into dialogue with the artists themselves.

An abstract work featuring the words “she is person” was a striking presence viewed sans any context in the space of Amanda Williams’ studio. However, the piece gained a distinctive complexity and powerfulness after Williams explained that the words were taken from a document signed by her great-grandmother, a freed slave, after whom Williams is named.

Williams spoke of drawing inspiration from this document’s call to establish that her great-grandmother existed through her signature. She pointed to a work-in-progress that used this signature, giving a glimpse of the artistic process that unfolded in this sunlit studio.

Around the corner, Lisa Limas voiced the comfort of knowing that people other than herself appreciated her art, as I purchased a beautiful necklace she had crafted. I was delighted to realize she had also created my favorite piece from the main gallery, an installation of a bird’s nest nestled in a wire basket, under which stood a beaten wooden sawhorse.  Her tale of discovering in the streets the three individual components that eventually found their homes in “Now commonplace and overlooked,” as the work was titled, made the finished piece more dear.

With each successive artist who welcomed me, and fellow visitors, into his or her studio, a window was opening into the different ways in which they expressed life through the mediums of their work. While art in itself may be a meaningful manner of touching others, glimpses into the worlds of the artists that create this art only enrich this form of communication.

The Bridgeport Art Center, 1200 W. 35^th St. See their website, bridgeportart.com, for information on any upcoming events, as well as a listing of artists’ studios

Hannah Fullmer

My stomach grumbled as I sat on the #6 bus, headed towards the Loop. It was only a short bus ride to Roosevelt Road where my friends and I would transfer to the red line train but I was already excited and, more importantly, hungry. After transferring, we rode south for several minutes and stepped off the train at Cermak/Chinatown. The journey may seem long (although it only took about an hour) but it was definitely worth it because that day I was on a mission of epic portions. A mission to find the best custard bun in Chinatown.

I first discovered custard buns last year when I happened to purchase one from a small Chinese bakery on Michigan Ave. and ever since I’ve been hooked. Custard buns are a sweet roll usually about the size of a tennis ball and are filled with a tasty egg custard roughly the consistency of the cream used to fill doughnuts.

When we finally arrived at Chinatown it was about 6:30 in the evening and the sun had already gone down, which was fine by me because I love this neighborhood at night. The marquees of restaurants and shops had been flipped on and were shining brightly as I walked up and down the streets of Chinatown, searching for bakeries and cafés. We were tempted by other treats, especially ones like green tea cake, cream cones, and almond cakes from the shops, but we controlled ourselves. In the end we purchased several buns, one from every bakery offering them.

Hannah Fullmer

My friends and I were famished from our custard bun search and decide to eat dinner before the judging. We stopped at a small restaurant within Chinatown and were seated on the second floor. The table was equipped with a large lazy susan, perfect for a group of friends to share a meal. We ordered several dishes and shared them amongst the table. Rice, pot stickers, pan fried noodles, crab rangoon, and shrimp spun around the table and were quickly devoured.

Our bellies were full and we began the judging. We gave each bun a number, ate them, and then compared. One bun’s custard filling was more yellow than the others, in another the dough was softer and sweeter, in some the custard was smoother or creamier.

We tallied the results and determined our winner: Feida Bakery. Their custard bun is of medium size but the dough is especially soft. An added sprinkling of salt atop the bun enhances the flavor of the sweet custard.

Dinner and judging completed, we make our way back to the red line station. We rode the train back to Roosevelt Road where we could the South Loop Shuttle home. Our stomachs were full, our heads buzzing. We enjoyed custard buns, friendship and the vibrant Chinatown neighborhood. Mission accomplished.

Courtesy of MAB

Do you enjoy crowds full of sweaty and overly-excited hipsters dancing to outrageously catchy beats? Do you love charismatic performers with a wholehearted appreciation for sweaty and overly-excited hipsters dancing to their outrageously catchy beats? Do you like being one of these perspiring kids at concerts? Do you like live music? Well, if you answered “yes” to any/all of these questions and attending a Matt & Kim concert tickles your fancy, then you, my friend, are in luck. The UofC’s own Major Activities Board (MAB) is proud to welcome the pop-punk duo to campus on Saturday, November 5 for its annual Fall Quarter Show. Opening for Matt & Kim will be Squat the Condos, a band comprised entirely of UofC undergrads.

Hailing from Brooklyn, NY, Matt & Kim are known not only for their organic music videos that accompany their equally organic sound, but also for their insanely energetic and “physical” live shows. The video (below) for one of my favorite songs, “Yea Yeah,” demonstrates how much fun and enthusiasm they have when they play. In regards to live shows, let’s just say that at last year’s Bamboozle in New Jersey, Matt climbed one of the metal towers on the side of the stage to the song “Lean Back (Westwood Mix).” Although Mandel Hall might not be the Meadowlands, Matt & Kim will certainly bring their “huge venue” craziness and turn Mandel into what the MAB would call a “pop-punk party.”

Video from mattandkim on YouTube

To help them in this festive mission is Squat the Condos. I can’t write about them as I have written about Matt & Kim since, frankly….I just discovered them. But thanks to the songs on their MySpace page (http://www.myspace.com/squatthecondos) and YouTube videos of their performances, I have already become a fan. The song “Pretending” (below) is currently stuck in my head. This past March, Squat the Condos released their first EP, We Should Be Together. For an unsigned band to open for none other than Matt & Kim is pretty impressive.

Squat_the_Condos_-_Pretending

Ok so now that you’re excited. Here’s what you have to do:

• STEP 1: Buy a ticket. Advanced tickets go on sale on weekdays starting tomorrow, October 24, from 11:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. at the Reynolds Club. They are $5 for students with UCID, $10 for faculty members. Tickets bought the day of the event will be $5 more for students and faculty. Customers are only allowed two tickets per student ID.
• STEP 2: Check out both artists. You don’t want to be that person at the show who clearly doesn’t know anything about either band. Check out Matt & Kim (http://mattandkimmusic.com/) and Squat the Condos (http://squatthecondos.bandcamp.com/) at their respective websites.
• STEP 3: Show up. The concert is on Saturday, November 5 at Mandel Hall. Starts at 8:00 p.m., ends around 11:00 p.m., and doors open at 7:00 p.m. The earlier you are, the better.

Do you love stand-up comedy? Do you tell jokes in the mirror while your roommate is gone? Do you just like laughing over a cup of coffee? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then don’t miss The Coffee Shop Comedy Show. ORCSA is hosting the event for all of the burgeoning comedians on the UChicago campus, as well as anyone who wants to stop by for a laugh.

In the past, ORCSA has hosted comedy nights headlining professional talent, but this time the spotlight’s open for the taking. There’s no experience necessary, so if you’ve been secretly dreaming about landing a spot on Comedy Central one day, now’s the time to start practicing your routine in front of someone other than a showerhead.

The event will be held in open mic format at Hallowed Grounds Coffee Shop on the second floor of Reynolds Club, so it will be super casual. And if you’re still nervous, you can always relax afterwards with a nice cup of coffee. The show will be on Tuesday, November 1st at 7pm, and it is definitely not one to be missed!

Hallowed Grounds, Reynolds Club, 5706 S. University Ave. For more information, e-mail suzannawsso@uchicago.edu

One week from Monday night, every self-respecting haunt in America (and beyond) will emerge from their rotten tombs to feast upon the living- or to feast upon the delicious morsels that the living so kindly give out at their doors. Yes, it is almost one week from Halloween, my friends, and this reporter is ready. An example of my readiness:

Eric Shoemaker

Angela, the happily wedded corpse bride that dangles above my writing desk. No pallid bust of Pallas for me, my friends; I go all out.

In light of the festivities and to prepare myself for the perfect holiday that is All Hallow’s Eve, this week’s writing features the second installment in this blog’s spooky series: The Hyde Park Players present An Evening of Classic Horror and Suspense!

To mention: first of all, that the existence of the Hyde Park Players is, in the first place, a most glorious occasion worthy of recognizing. The itty-bitty troop in their wee storefront theater over at 6100 Blackstone Avenue is truly the rip-rap band of dramophiles it should be- mostly men and women over the age of thirty, but still, ripe in the mind and voice, able to easily portray several distinct and typed characters. A round of applause for the Players.

Their performance tonight was enjoyable, if a bit long- running around two and a half hours. BUT do not let this dissuade you, lovers of the macabre- if you enjoy listening, let me emphasize that again, listening to radio show style stories, this is the show for you. It is truly an exercise in using one’s ears. I recommend going and closing your eyes for a bit; you get a different experience.

It is rather fun to watch this enthusiastic group of theater geeks fully invest in what they are saying, and it is equally fun to hear from some of the great storytellers of all time- Ray Bradbury, Guy de Maupassant, and Charlotte Perkins Gilman, plus a few more. But it is most gratifying to realize all of the work that this troupe put in- from mixing the sounds to adapting the works. It is truly a labor of love.

Go see this show, if you have the time. Adieu, until next weekend.

-Eric Shoemaker

An Evening of Horror and Suspense, The Experimental Station: 6100 S. Blackstone Ave. Tickets $8 presale, $10 at the door, 7:00 pm. hydeparkcommunityplayers.org

The Log

An Evening of Classic Horror and Suspense in the Old Time Radio Tradition* @ The Experimental Station: Oct 21 & 22

Flow* @ eta Creative Arts: Sep15-Oct23

Audience Annihilated @ Dream Theater: Oct 20-31

A Weekend of Workshops @ University Theater: Oct 27-29

The Physicists @ University Theater: Nov 3-5

Wait Until Dark @ Jedlicka Performing Arts Center: Oct28-Nov12

From the Circle @ Filament Theater: Sept 30-Nov 13

Broke-ology @ eta Creative Arts: Nov3-Dec18

*Ending Soon

Last year, the Chicago Weekly published a feature entitled Swept Under the Rug about University of Chicago housekeeping staff layoffs. Here’s an update on that issue.

Matt Wan

It remains to be seen whether the massive protests on Wall Street and other financial centers around the country will lead to any real change; but students at the University of Chicago can take to heart the fact that their own protests appear to have ended in victory.
Last spring, university administrators announced (during Housekeeper Appreciation Week, no less) that they were planning to outsource dormitory housekeeping jobs to a private subcontractor. Would the current housekeepers get to keep their jobs, or could they all be fired? That administration kept mum about that issue, leaving workers to fear the worst.

Students Organizing United with Labor (SOUL), a labor-rights group on campus, organized weeks of protests, demanding that the university guarantee that each worker would get to keep his or her job and benefits. They held sit-ins, teach-ins, study-ins and rallies for several weeks, but as the students left at the end of Spring Quarter, there were still no guarantees from the administration. It was possible that the protests would do nothing: even weeks of rallying can be forgotten in the long months of summer.

However, it appears that, whether they were the cause of it or not, protestors got what they wanted. On September 28, Karen Coleman, the Associate Dean of Students, stated in a letter to university students that all staff members were offered a choice between a job or retirement with a severance package. The housekeepers have a new union and a new boss, but at least they still have their jobs. Coleman wrote:

“More than 75 percent of the staff members affected by this transition were selected for new positions within the University or were hired into new jobs with ABM [the new sub-contractor]. Most of the remaining staff elected to leave the University and accepted an enhanced severance package. All housekeeping staff that applied for new positions are now working, either with the University or with ABM (with the exception of one staff member currently unable to work). We are pleased that this outcome means that residents and staff will continue to see many of the same faces in their buildings that they have come to know over the years.”

According to University Spokesman Steve Kloehn, 55 housekeepers were affected by the transition: 24 were hired by ABM; 16 found other University positions; and the remaining 15 workers chose to leave. Both the retiring workers and those now working for ABM received severance packages. Just as SOUL was about to celebrate, however, they discovered that its victory was more than a little bittersweet.

“Our job load has doubled,” explained Mazurie Wright, a housekeeper at the South campus dormitory, in a SOUL meeting last Thursday. According to her, out of the 16 workers in South before the transition, 8 remained in the dormitory as housekeepers. Wright went from cleaning one house in the dormitory to cleaning the entire first floor, which includes six lounges, four kitchens and ten bathrooms.

She also took a pay cut of two dollars per hour, but is now working an hour extra per day (this returns housekeepers to the amount of hours they were working a few years ago). According to Kloehn, because of the longer work day and a better benefits package, “total compensation is now higher” for the housekeepers. When a student at the SOUL meeting asked Wright if she made more or less the same amount of money per day as before, she answered yes – but that it doesn’t really matter when “you’re too tired at the end of the day to spend it.”

Not all of the housekeepers have taken a pay cut: some moved to different positions on campus, and a lucky few are now “Building Maintenance Workers,” or BMWs. Their job role is to respond to certain maintenance issues, such as heating/cooling or moving furniture, and they enjoyed a pay raise.

The point of the consolidation of Housekeeping and Facilities service was to “take advantage of the expertise and experience in Facilities Services,” according to Coleman; however, Wright says, “The quality of the work is going to go down because we just don’t have enough time.” Moreover, she says, it’s been difficult to adjust to the new, stricter rules and protocols that go with the new contractor.

However, Wright is still happy to have a job at the university – an institution she’s worked for since she was 18 years old. She stressed, “We have to say thank you [to students]. The first meeting, they said we’d be laid off.”

For now, Wright and the other housekeepers will just have to adjust to the new contractor and the new workload. Not much can be done until next year, when the housekeeping contract will be up for renewal. In the meantime, my guess is that SOUL will be occupying its time on Wall Street.

Despite a steady drizzle of rain, numerous children clambered about the playground at Butternut Playlot Park on a Saturday morning. Some of their parents looked on, taking shelter under umbrellas and rain jackets. The children were clearly enjoying the haven of greenery and jungle gym where they could run about together in the most fundamental expression of youthful energy.

This small lot of open space in Hyde Park exemplifies what should be the mission of parks across Chicago and beyond: to provide an area of community enjoyment and enrichment as a respite from city streets.

However, many parts of Chicago are not privilege to easy access to quality public parks. A recent series of reports by the Chicago Tribune drew attention to Chicago’s “park deserts”: areas in which the city’s self-established standard of two acres of open space per 1,000 citizens is not met.

The dearth of open space affects roughly half of Chicago’s population and 32 of its 77 neighborhoods, including many on the South Side. South Lawndale, Bridgeport, and Greater Grand Crossing, to name a few, are all among the ranks of neighborhoods lacking in sufficient park acreage by a range of less than 15 acres to more than 40 acres.

With seemingly more pressing issues at hand, from economic worries to issues of social justice, one might wonder why a few acres of park are of any concern. Perhaps parks are a luxury. That dismissal, however, would reduce a powerful presence to a mere patch of grass.

While the impact of a park may not be demonstrated in increased test scores in schools or reduced levels of violence, their positive, magnetic influence is apparent in the multitudes of citizens who flock to Chicago’s parks on a sunny – or not so sunny – day.

Furthermore, Chicago takes pride in the variety of its neighborhoods, each with a unique character that coalesces into the diverse yet cohesive unit of the city. In the efforts of these neighborhoods to retain and strengthen their sense of community while positively influencing the lives of their inhabitants, parks can act as cornerstones of significant merit.

Matt Montequin

On my way to Little Village on Saturday to cover Numero Group’s A.V. Club-hyped record sale, a mix-up in my bus transfer caused me to see more of the South Side than I had originally planned.  Walking along 55^th Street from Western to Kedzie to find the route I should have taken, I caught a glimpse of a few yard sales taking place on the lawns adorning the sidewalks.  My decision to sleep late that day had left me with less than an hour until the record sale was set to close—not enough time to browse anywhere else—so I passed them up and caught a bus north to the event as soon as I could.

What I arrived to was an apartment building that looked like all the others on Marshall Boulevard.  In front, a hodgepodge of LPs, old roller skates, and Jawbreaker t-shirts sat on tables and in cardboard boxes at what really didn’t appear much different from the yard sales I had passed by earlier.  Had I not known what was going on, I wouldn’t have expected to be looking at the face of a record label, let alone one that received a Grammy nomination this past year, falling short to The White Stripes for the award.  Then again, Numero Group isn’t the most expected label in the music industry.

An archival label dedicated to resurrecting forgotten music of the ’60s and ’70s, Numero Group is in large part the project of Ken Shipley, whom I met at the sale.  Shipley was working at the Rykodisc label when he decided to take things in a different direction, joining Tom Lunt and Rob Sevier to form Numero Group.  Since its start in 2003, the label has released over sixty titles, garnering national attention and critical acclaim from such outlets as CNN and Pitchfork, all while running most operations out of the group’s Little Village apartment.  Surprising?  I was told the group didn’t even have the full apartment until recently.

The sale on Saturday showcased most, if not all, of the label’s records.  Interested myself in what Numero Group had to offer, I asked Ken where a good starting place to the Numero canon would be.  He directed me to the label’s first issue, Numero 001, a compilation of “Eccentric Soul” coming out of Columbus, Ohio between 1967 and 1974.  The label that had originally released the music, Capsoul, had been defunct since the mid-70s, pushing most of the music into obscurity for decades until Numero tracked the music down for reissue in 2004.  Not knowing what to expect but aware that this was probably my only chance to get the album, I purchased it to support independent music on the South Side.  After a few listens, I couldn’t get “You’re All I Need To Make It” (below) out of my head.  Overall, it’s an album that has the substance of its Motown contemporaries blended with the complexities that marked some of the time period’s most innovative music.  As I was promised, it got me ready for more of the Numero collection.

Video from ossopalatino on YouTube

At the heart of the event, though, was the community spirit behind cleaning out the closets, putting up some signs, and having a yard sale.  Numero Group’s employees and associates had their own items out as part of the sale as well.  While resisting the urges typically associated with finding a $2 pair of shoes and a $20 Nintendo 64, I did walk away with three used CDs and a copy of David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest.  But maybe the most significant thing that I took back to the UofC campus was an assurance of why I am blogging for the Chicago Weekly this year: to absorb the less-written about culture that Numero Group and others contribute to the city, which I will be hopefully be covering more in the coming weeks.  I’d say experiencing that is definitely worth taking the wrong CTA directions here and there.

To learn more about Numero Group, check out this story we published about the label last year, their website at numerogroup.com, or their blog at numerogroup.wordpress.com.

Last Thursday, I woke up earlier than usual to spend the morning browsing for books at the International House where the University of Chicago Press was hosting its Great Chicago Book Sale. I had tacked the flyer on my desk weeks ago. In colorful fonts, it promised two days of good deals and good literature with “over 10,000 new books, hardcovers and paperbacks, in many subjects” for only five dollars a piece.

Inside the Assembly Hall, tables with printed signs mounted on crisp construction paper formed aisles. Above and below these tables were cardboard boxes, each one containing a stack of untouched titles, some still individually wrapped. The address of the book sale had been stamped on the side of every box. “I’m not sure how the Press chose these books,” one of the employees commented, “but there are many titles in many disciplines.”

It was easy to make several laps around the room and find those intriguing titles. Fashionable Foods detailed “seven decades of food fads,” including a brief history and recipes. There were translations of philosophical and Greek texts. The book with the plainest cover was The City by Robert E. Park and Ernest W. Burgess, which sat in the sociology section next to Paul Lewis’s Cracking Up: American Humor in the Time of Conflict whose cover featured a collage of hand-drawn laughing faces. There were books about rhesus macaques, new historicism, Norman McClean, urban education, and love poems. What I thought was a forest green calendar turned out to be the Atlas of Cat Anatomy. In the history section, a 4.5’’ by 6’’ pocket guide, titled Instructions for American Servicemen in Iraq during World War II, contained a reprint of the exact text given to soldiers in 1943, complete with original illustrations. The book sale felt less like a marketplace and more like a private showing of someone’s eclectic library.

It was no surprise to see many people walking with stacks of books in their arms. In fact, it was almost impossible to find anyone who had not stopped to examine a cover or flip through a few pages. The Great Chicago Book Sale delivered exactly what it promised on its flyer, providing plenty of new additions to book collections around Hyde Park.

For those interested in learning more about the United States’ presence in Afghanistan, the University of Chicago is hosting a screening of the documentary Human Terrain. The film follows the progress of the Human Terrain System, a new initiative from the United States’ military, beginning in 2004. The program itself has been considered a controversial topic, despite its objective being to end conflict between the people of Iraq and Afghanistan. The Human Terrain System is the military’s answer to its lack of success in spreading democracy in the Middle East. It integrates political scientists and anthropologists, among others, with soldiers in order to help establish counter-insurgency policies in Iraq and Afghanistan. The film covers the training for those involved in the program from Virginia and Kansas to the Mojave Desert.

The documentary was backed by the Watson Institute’s Global Media Project, and was directed and produced by James Der Derian and David & Michael Udris.  It won the Audience Award at the 50^th Festival dei Popoli in 2009. Following the screening of the film, there will be a discussion panel featuring members of the University’s Department of Anthropology, John Kelly, Simon May, and Kathleen Morrison.

The event is scheduled for Tuesday, October 18^th, from 5:30 to 7:30pm at the Knapp Center for Biological Discovery in Lecture Hall1103. For more information, or to register to attend, visit their webpage.

It’s time to christen the Chicago Weekly blog anew, and inaugurate a new flock of dedicated reporters, just begging to give the South Side of Chicago the news it deserves.

This reporter’s Manifest Statement: To provide South Siders with a taste of what their backyard offers in the forms of performing arts and entertainment; to entice others to experience the beauty of theater and it’s dramatic take on the living that we do every day; to ask other South Siders to inform on events occurring on our turf; and to generally entertain with wild notions of what “performance” can be.

Let’s kick things off right with a great example of strikingly odd performance art: Dream Theatre’s Audience Annihilated Part One: Women Only Train, tagline: “All that happens, happens to YOU!” Sounds pretty terrifying with just the title, but get the premise—one to four audience members will play the lead role in a horror play, themed as “the most unexpected horror experience you will ever witness.” When buying tickets, one has the option of buying a “lead role” ticket or an “Observation Gallery” ticket. Personally, I will only be observing. But I cannot imagine making it through the Halloween season without taking a trip to Dream Theatre to see this, surely, unique event, in which the actors attempt to terrify and generally scar the audience members who ask for it.

Video from no4thwall on YouTube

Here’s a short promo clip for the production. The Dream Theatre’s website also has ticket information and an online ticket sales booth. Tickets are only $13, which sounds like a steal to me—would you rather pay to walk passively through a haunted house, or be the center of attention in a play fully prepared to make you scream and shiver?

That being said, some of us (myself included) are a bit less… courageous in the face of almost certain terror, and would prefer to watch others be scared, or act scared, or act in general. This brings me to the final addition to this blog: The Log (for lack of a better term). This is the final portion in which I will list South Side events and performances going up or running in the near future. If you are aware of a performance going on south of Roosevelt that you’d like to tell South Siders about, be sure to let us know.

Watch for weekly updates to The Log and this CW blog series from yours truly. Now get out and enjoy some of these fall performances!

-Eric Shoemaker

The Log

eta Creative Arts Foundation’s Flow: September 15-October 23

Jedlicka Performing Arts Center’s Wait Until Dark: October 28-November 12

Dream Theatre’s Audience Annihilated Part One: Women Only Train: October 20-31

Filament Theater’s From the Circle: September 30-November 13

The Hyde Park Community Players’ An Evening of Classic Horror and Suspense in the Old Time Radio Tradition: October 21 & 22

Last spring, former CW editor Sam Feldman chronicled the fate of the Michael Reese Hospital campus as a result of the failed Olympic bid for Newcity. The city has always intended to tear down the Bronzeville hospital complex, be it originally for the proposed Olympic village or now for the land to be sold off to developers.  But this came to the chagrin of many preservationists and architecture buffs, who shuddered at the thought of loosing the campus co-designed by Walter Gropius, the founder of the Bauhaus movement. As a compromise Mayor Daley had promised that the hospital’s main building, an unusual Prairie Style high-rise, would be saved from the wrecking ball.

As it turns out, the city is now planning to tear down that main hospital building by the end of the year, citing the poor condition of the building and the costs involved in restoring it. Lee Bay has posted a nice synopsis of the situation on his blog for WBEZ.  As a consolation the Singer Pavilion, designed by Gropius, has been assured to remain standing. However, the Chicago Tribune’s architecture writer Blair Kamin has called into question the honesty of this promise and brought attention to the questionable decision-making process behind these series of moves.

It has been more than a year after the city’s Olympic bid failed, and the community is still struggling with the fallout.  As Sam pointed out in his article, many of the communities that were highlighted by the Olympic bid have fallen back into the periphery of the city’s collective vision; much of the urban plight that was promised to be tackled by the bid still remains unaddressed. But if anything positive can be gleaned from the story of the hospital, at least Chicago politics is working as well as ever.

DV Team: Siobhan Strong, Valencia, Law Roach, Rukey Styles, Christopher Adams. All Photos by Charles Young

Two words describe the scene at Deliciously Vintage this Wednesday evening: pure glam. With the launch of a revamped website, the Pilsen clothing boutique had an excuse to celebrate…and to do so in style.  I was fortunate to find myself on the guest list and dropped by to join the revelry.

The room throbbed with hip-hop beats and loud champagne-induced conversation.  Clothing racks formed vibrant walls and flukes of pink champagne hovered about the room on silver platters.  Guests were kids in a candy store—a chic candy store.  One woman tried on a vintage studded motorcycle jacket.  Upon examining herself in the mirror, she turned to me “Too bad it’s already sold.” She shrugged with a pout.  Dressing room curtains would burst apart and revelers emerged decked out in prospective purchases: dresses, furs, and blouses. “I got this at DV about two years ago,” said one party-goer in a ocean-blue kimono-style cocktail dress.  Another guest worked the room in a cropped snow leopard coat, streaked hair, black leggings, and studded footwear.

I spied co-owner Siobhan Strong on the opposite end of the boutique, obviously the center of attention amongst a plethora of stylish guests.  I spoke with Strong about the new site, speaking loudly over the festive din.  Said Strong: “At first we struggled with the idea of an online store—we wanted to maintain the client-stylist relationship that comes with visiting our actual boutique.”  The clothing featured on the website will be a handpicked collection, shot as high-fashion editorial, and mirroring current trends.  So what’s on DV’s style radar? Strong responds without batting a lash: “The cape. This season is all about the cape and the cloak. Very much town-and-country with lots of tweeds.”  Strong herself looked dazzling in a vintage beaded mini-dress, vintage Diane von Furstenberg blazer and sky-high pumps.

Deliciously Vintage’s new home page features a video, which fuses print editorial and video advertisement.  A demure girl with doe-like eyes and blond Marilyn Monroe coif lounges on sofa in a pink dress and then lingerie. Eartha Kitt’s “I Want to Be Evil” plays in the background.  Steamy? Yes.  Good girl gone bad? More like, good-girl-trying-to-edgily-expand-her-closet.  I asked Co-owner Law Roach to comment: “The ad just felt right and is just how we want to show the perfect Deliciously Vintage girl,” He paused to great a guest with la bise. “Yeah, some people say it’s a little sexy, but that’s what we wanted. Now let’s get you a drink, girl.”

In addition to the new website, DV is starting a blog, has hired a publicist and is poised for success while dressing the part.

Check out Chicago Weekly’s previous coverage of Deliciously Vintage here and the boutique’s new website here

Che “Rhymefest” Smith kicks off his campaign for alderman of the 20th ward tonight at the South Loop nightclub The Shrine. Already Kanye-endorsed, the rapper will be joined on stage tonight by Lupe Fiasco. But his campaign is already facing less glittery attention.

Two weeks ago, CW writer Tobi Haslett covered Rhymefest’s press conference announcing his intention to run, emphasizing the bizarre and potentially dangerous blur of Smith’s star status with the ambiguity of his political platform. Tonight’s show comes while Smith is still scrambling to limit the damage of recent media coverage of a 2001 guilty plea for misdemeanor domestic battery, and a 2005 conviction for a misdemeanor gun charge for firing shots in the air after an altercation with a real estate agent at his home near Indianapolis. Smith’s biggest opponent, the incumbent Willie Cochran, says he new about the charges but wanted to wait until closer to February’s election to bring them to voters attention. In a November 4th article, The Chicago News Cooperative (CNC) reported his sarcastic response. “That’s just what we need in an alderman.”

In the same article, Smith said he thinks voters will forgive his troubled past. “I’ve grown and evolved. I’ve learned to be a better man than where I come from. I come from a background that I call Poverty Incorporated. That’s no excuse for bad behavior, but that experience is why I’m here in my community, trying to make a difference.”

The wavy line between redeemed native son and ego tripping celebrity is getting harder to define by the week, and probably won’t get any clearer as February approaches. To be fair though, it isn’t limited to Rhymefest. Speaking to the CNC, the rapper at least showed he knows his environment. “Welcome to Chicago Politics.”

The official flier for the campaign kickoff

On October 28th, forty three days after parents at Whittier Elementary School in Pilsen began a sit-in to prevent the destruction of the school’s fieldhouse, CPS delivered a letter signed by CEO Ron Huberman that formalized agreements made eight days earlier. The field-house will be leased to the Parent Committee for $1 a year as soon as the group officially incorporates as a nonprofit, and a library will be built for Whittier students. The Whittier Parent Committee officially ended the sit-in that same day, but some questions remain. The parents’ group issued the following statements qualifying their victory:

1) The location of the library has NOT been determined or agreed upon by the Whittier Parent Committee. The parents DID NOT agree to the library being built inside of the Whittier school as the letter from CPS states.

3) We want to make it clear that we are ONLY ending the sit-in portion of the struggle. The Whittier Parent Committee remains in control of the fieldhouse and the programming that is currently taking place in the fieldhouse. We ARE NOT abandoning the fieldhouse nor are we ending our fight for the library. The negotiations will continue!

In the meantime, Huberman has announced that he will be stepping down as head of CPS on November 29th, his resignation apparently hurried along by Mayor Daley, the Sun-Times reports. The Sun-Times’ sources suggest that Huberman’s replacement will likely be Terry Mazany, a former public school administrator and current CEO of the Chicago Community Trust with a much stronger background in public education.

ALSO:a slight correction. In the original text of this article I wrote that proving all of the Parent Committee’s allegations “would require a thorough investigation into TIF funding records, something no major media outlet has attempted.” While it’s true that thorough database reporting is lacking, there have been some important stories on the issue. Ben Joravsky’s pieces for the Chicago Reader are worth reading.

Read the original CW feature on the Whittier occupation here.

The Chicago Reader’s Mick Dumke went to the CAPS meeting for beat 234 in Washington Park last Thursday night, and it sounds like the locals weren’t happy. From sinkholes in the streets to prostitutes in the park to an alley drug market disguised as an impromptu auto shop, Washington Park residents have a lot to complain about. Alderman Willie Cochran (20th), who didn’t attend the meeting, took a share of the blame for not being responsive.

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.

In February we profiled ShoreBank, the paradigmatic financial institution with a social conscience. Founded in the ailing South Shore neighborhood in 1973, it has been credited with proving that responsible lending can raise a profit, serving the low-income neighborhoods that other banks ignored. Although the bank has attempted to keep up with the surging post-recession demand for its services, it has faced troubles of its own in the past months. After its assets took a significant hit, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) ordered it to raise enough capital to remain solvent. Despite seeking bailout money from the state of Illinois, private donors, and national foundations, ShoreBank’s future remained uncertain until this week. But now Crain’s Chicago Business, which has closely tracked the community development giant’s battle for survival, is reporting that General Electric has agreed to kick in $20 million, which combined with $120 million from other private sector lenders will allow the bank to access $75 million of bailout money from the Treasury Department. It now looks like ShoreBank is saved, and communities in need can breathe a sigh of relief.

Our former Editor-in-Chief Sam Feldman has written an excellent feature for this week’s Newcity on the aftermath of Chicago’s failed 2016 bid, some six months after losing to Rio de Janeiro. The remants of Chicago’s plans, plans it hoped would “stir the blood of men,” in the (alleged) words of Daniel Burnham, can especially be seen near the Michael Reese Hospital campus in Bronzeville, site of the proposed Olympic Village, and Washington Park, the site of the proposed 80,000 seat Olympic Stadium. Sam discovers what community developers, students, government officials, preservationists, and others have planned for these places now.

(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.