#Chicago Humanities Festival

[nonesuchrecords]

Laurie Anderson is on latest episode of The Pitchfork Review podcast. The episode features her conversation with Pitchfork Editor-in-Chief Puja Patel, Kim Gordon, and writer/editor Sinéad Gleeson from the Chicago Humanities Festival in May 2022. They discuss This Woman’s Work, an essay anthology edited by Gordon and Gleeson, which includes a piece about Anderson, and more. You can hear their conversation here.

[karihighman]

Eric & Tracy at Monte Carlo Day 2 being adorbs

[fuckyeahcourtneylove]

“Sinéad O'Connor was a sweet, wonderful woman. She came up and said hello to me. We sat in the sun, drank Pepsi-Cola, and told each other secrets. We talked a lot about her childhood and Kurt's childhood and all sorts of childhoods. She takes in the world with huge luminous eyes, the type you rarely see, utterly lunar, laser beams to Ork.

Sinead and I would stay up all night in the bus watching really depressing movies. We watched Ryan's Daughter and two different adaptations of Wuthering Heights. She told me about Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw being sexually abused. When we were in Chicago she bought me a beautiful book that I really needed, and then she went down to her room, and when she was all alone she ran away to the airport.

She was pregnant, it was quite hot, and she was depressed. In her note that she left she said, "They can sue me. I don't care. I'II find another line of work," which I thought had a lot of integrity to it, to be honest.

I missed Sinéad.”

Courtney on touring with Sinead in July 1995. Written in 1995. Sinead told festival founder Perry Farrell that the reason she joined Lollapalooza was because of Hole and Courtney. Rest in power you beautiful human.

[laundrybiscuits]

“Who’s Eddie?”

Darren doesn’t sound jealous or anything. It’d be a little hypocritical of him, considering he’s got a boyfriend and all. But Darren’s stayed the night a few times, more than anyone else Steve’s been sleeping with lately, and Steve thinks they’re getting to be pretty good friends at this point, and Steve’s been trying this thing lately where he’s more honest with his friends.

“Why do you ask?” Steve’s stalling, and he knows he’s stalling.

“You say Eddie sometimes in your sleep. Just wondering. He an ex or something?”

“No. Not an ex. Just a guy I—just a guy I liked, when I was a teenager.” It’s not completely true, he doesn’t think. But it’s close enough.

“Never got up the courage for a sweet little farmboy fumble?” Darren’s a city boy, and he likes to tease Steve about his supposedly agrarian roots even though Steve keeps telling him he’s never even been on a farm. (Aside from harvest festivals, and apple picking, and 4-H fairs, and his grandpa’s—okay, Darren has a little bit of a point. Not much.)

“He’s dead. He died,” Steve says. They’re just words. They can’t hurt anymore.

“Shit, I’m sorry,” says Darren, because Darren is not actually an asshole. He’s looking carefully at whatever Steve’s face is doing. Steve doesn’t know. Tentatively, he asks, “Was it because…?”

“No,” says Steve. Then he backtracks. “Maybe. Partly.”

Hunt the freak, right?

It wasn’t Jason Carver’s teeth in Eddie’s guts, but if things had broken a little differently, if they hadn’t had to worry about the human monsters in Hawkins…Steve thinks a lot about how it might have gone. Sometimes he hates Eddie for not being just a little bit more normal, and then he hates himself for thinking like that.

Steve has never said yes to a guy named Jason. It’s so fucking stupid and pointless. Maybe he’s missed out on the love of his life by turning down Jason Jones or whoever, and it's not even like Jason was the only one responsible. But he just can’t. He can’t.

He thinks it’s probably not even about Eddie himself, like as a real person. Eddie was just some guy, some kid, who was funny and handsome and sweet and wild, who loved the things he loved as if nobody had ever told him not to. 

A lot of people had told him not to. 

Eddie died because of ravening nightmare beasts and one superpowered evil dude with a god complex.

Eddie died because he liked playing a game about stories and magic.

Eddie died because some people, the people who raised Steve, the people who Steve used to love and look up to—those people couldn’t understand him, and thought that gave them the right to take away his life.

Growing up, Steve had always thought of himself as a lifelong Hawkinsite, the kind of guy who sticks around and puts down roots. But when Robin had asked him to go with her to New York, near the tail end of '86, it had been so easy to say yes. Leaving Hawkins behind had felt like escaping the jaws of a trap, even if it meant leaving a limb behind. They’ve been to Paris and London and LA, staying in filthy student hostels and drinking cheap wine, living the kind of life that had once seemed as make-believe and impossible to Steve as the kids’ wizard games. 

Steve dates men, now. He thinks that would have seemed even more impossible than Paris to his sixteen-year-old self. 

He still dates women sometimes. He’s had a couple girlfriends. Mostly, though, he’s not looking for anything too slow or serious, and that’s easier to get with men once you know where to look. He’s got Robin, he’s got the kids to see on Thanksgivings and Christmases, what else does he need? 

They’d moved out of New York around '91. Rent got to be too much, and Dustin had just bought a place in Oak Park with his then-girlfriend because the kid U-Hauls faster than a lesbian. 

So now, they share an apartment on the north side of Chicago, close to the lake. It’s pretty nice. Steve’s pushing 30, bartending six nights a week, and Robin answers phones at a fancy dentist’s office in the Loop. It’s been a lifetime since they’ve run from anything with too many teeth under the wrong sky. 

“Tell me about Eddie,” Darren says into the silence that's been stretching out too long.  

Steve closes his eyes.

“He was brave,” says Steve. “Every single day of his life, he was brave.”

(Now with follow-up!)

[aaknopf]

The novelist Michael Ondaatje has been a poet from the beginning. “Lock,” like other poems in new collection A Year of Last Things, speaks swiftly across time, striking at poetry’s core, where a singular memory flares in the dark and illuminates everything.

Lock

Reading the lines he loves he slips them into a pocket, wishes to die with his clothes full of torn-free stanzas and the telephone numbers of his children in far cities

As if these were all we need and want, not the dog or silver bowl not the brag of career or ownership

Unless they can be used —a bowl to beg with, a howl to scent a friend, as those torn lines remind us how to recall

until we reach that horizon and drop, or rise like a canoe within a lock to search the other half of the river,

where you might see your friends as altered by this altitude as you

The fresh summer grass, the smell of the view— dark water, August paint

How I loved that lock when I saw it all those summers ago,                         when we arrived out of a storm into its evening light,

and gave a stranger some wine in a tin cup

Even then I wanted to slip into the wet dark rectangle and swim on barefoot to other depths where nothing could be seen that was a further story

More on this book and author:

Learn more about A Year of Last Things by Michael Ondaatje.

Browse other books by Michael Ondaatje.

Hear Michael Ondaatje read at the Chicago Humanities Spring Festival on Saturday, April 13. Michael will be in California and will read at Green Apple Books in San Francisco on April 15 at 7:00 PM (register here), Dominican University of California in San Rafael on April 17 at 7:00 PM (register here), and Copperfield Books in Petaluma on April 18 at 7:00 PM (register here).

Visit our Tumblr to peruse poems, audio recordings, and broadsides in the Knopf poem-a-day series.

To share the poem-a-day experience with friends, pass along this link.

[louisupdates]

FITFWT23: OUTRO SONGS

NORTH AMERICA

26 May - Mohegan Sun Arena, UNCASVILLE CT: The Best, by Tina Turner

27 May - Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion, GUILFORD NH: This Charming Man, by The Smiths

29 May - Place Bell, LAVAL QC: Downtown, by Petula Clark

30 May - Budweiser Stage, TORONTO ON: Summer of 69, by Bryan Adams

1 Jun - Blossom Music Center, CUYAHOGA FALLS, OH: Bittersweet Symphony, by Verve

2 Jun - Michigan Lottery Amphitheater, STERLING HEIGHTS, MI: Chasing Rainbows, by Shed Seven

3 Jun - The Icon Festival Stage, CINCINNATI: All These Things That I’ve Done, by The Killers

6 Jun - Kemba Live! Outdoor, COLUMBUS OH: The One I Love, by REM

7 Jun - TCU Amphitheater at White River State Park, INDIANAPOLIS: Love Will Tear Us Apart, by Joy Division

9 Jun - Saint Louis Music Park, SAINT LOUIS: Johnny B. Goode, by Chuck Berry

10 Jun - Starlight Theatre, KANSAS CITY MO: Moondance, by Van Morrison

13 Jun - BMO Pavilion, MILWAUKEE: I Can See Clearly Now, by Johnny Nash

15 Jun - Huntington Bank Pavilion, CHICAGO: September, by Earth, Wind, and Fire

16 Jun - The Armory, MINNEAPOLIS: Nothing Compares 2 U, by Sinéad O’Connor

17 Jun - Harrah’s Stir Cove, COUNCIL BLUFFS, IA: Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've?) by Buzzcocks

19 Jun - Denny Sanford Premiere Center, SIOUX FALLS, SD: American Pie, by Don McLean

21 Jun - Red Rocks Amphitheatre, MORRISON, CO 😪

24 Jun - Wamu Theater, SEATTLE: There Is A Light That Never Goes Out, by The Smiths

26 Jun - Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Center, VANCOUVER BC: King Of Pain, by The Police

27 Jun - Mcmenamins Edgefield Concerts, TROUTDALE OR: Always On My Mind, by Elvis Presley

29 Jun - The Greek Theatre, BERKELEY CA: Never Tear Us Apart, by INXS

30 Jun - The Hollywood Bowl, LOS ANGELES: California Love by 2Pac ft Dr. Dre & Roger Troutman

1 Jul - The Chelsea at the Cosmopolitan, LAS VEGAS: Human, by The Killers

3 Jul - Arizona Financial Theatre, PHOENIX: Liberator, by Spear of Destiny

6 Jul - The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory, IRVING TX: Hello, I Love You, by The Doors

7 Jul - Moody Amphitheater at Waterloo Park, AUSTIN TX: Teenage Dirtbag, by Wheatus

8 Jul - The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, THE WOODLANDS TX: Walking On The Moon, by The Police

11 Jul - St. Augustine Amphitheatre, ST. AUGUSTINE FL: Every Breath You Take, by The Police

13 Jul - Hard Rock Live at Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood, HOLLYWOOD FL: Your Song, by Elton John

14 Jul - Yuengling Center, TAMPA FL: Hit Me With Your Best Shot, by Pat Benatar

15 Jul - Cadence Bank Amphitheatre at Chastain Park, ATLANTA: You Can’t Always Get What You Want, by The Rolling Stones

18 Jul - Ascend Amphitheater, NASHVILLE: Hold Back The Rain, by Duran Duran

19 Jul - Charlotte Metro Credit Union Amphitheatre, CHARLOTTE NC: Perfect Day, by Lou Reed

21 Jul - Red Hat Amphitheater, RALEIGH NC: Moondance, by Van Morrison

22 Jul - Merriweather Post Pavilion, Columbia MD: Easy, by The Commodores

24 Jul - MGM Music Hall at Fenway, BOSTON: More Than A Feeling, by Boston

25 Jul - MGM Music Hall at Fenway, BOSTON: Here Comes Your Man, by The Pixies

27 Jul - TD Pavilion at the Mann, PHILADELPHIA: Nothing Compares 2 U, by Sinead O’Connor

28 Jul - Stone Pony Summer Stage, ASBURY PARK NJ: Dancing In The Dark, by Bruce Springsteen

29 Jul - Forrest Hills Stadium, NEW YORK: We Are The Champions, by Queen

Away From Home Festival 2023

19 Aug - Parco BussolaDomani, Lido di Camaiore: We Are The Champions, by Queen

EUROPE

29 Aug - Barclays Arena, HAMBURG: Love Will Tear Us Apart, by Joy Division

31 Aug - Royal Arena, COPENHAGEN: Under Pressure, by Queen and David Bowie

1 Sep - Spektrum, OSLO: Wake Me Up When September Ends, by Green Day

2 Sep - Hovet, STOCKHOLM: Seven Nation Army, by White Stripes

4 Sep - Ice Hall, HELSINKI: Always On My Mind, by Elvis

5 Sep - Saku Arena, TAILLINN: All Star, by Smash Mouth

7 Sep - Arena Riga, RIGA: Thuderstruck, by AC/DC

8 Sep - Zalgiris Arena, KAUNAS: Can’t Help Falling In Love, by Elvis [Zouis this day]

10 Sep - Tauron Arena, KRAKOW: Lust For Life, by Iggy Pop

11 Sep - Atlas Arena, ŁÓDŹ: Blitzkreig Bop, by the Ramones

13 Sep - Wiener Stadhalle D, VIENNA: Supersonic, by Oasis

14 Sep - Stozice Arena, LJUBLJANA: Smile Like You Meant It, by The Killers

15 Sep - Budapest Arena, BUDAPEST: Helicopter, by Bloc Party

17 Sep - Arenele Romane, BUCHAREST: My Hero, by Foo Fighters

18 Sep - Arena Armeets, SOFIA: Bombtrack, by Rage Against The Machine

20 Sep - Petras Theater, ATHENS: Go With The Flow, by Queens of the Stone Age

1 Oct - Bilbao Arena Miribilla, BILBAO (VIZCAYA): Where Is My Mind, by The Pixies

3 Oct - Altice Arena, LISBON: Farewell To The Fairground, by White Lies

5 Oct - Wizink Center, MADRID: Munich, by Editors

6 Oct - Palau Sant Jordi, BARCELONA: One Armed Scissor, by At the Drive-In

8 Oct - Pala Alpitur, TURIN: Are You Gonna Go My Way, by Lenny Kravitz

9 Oct - Unipol Arena, BOLOGNA: Helicopter, by Bloc Party

11 Oct - Rockhal, ESCH-SUR-ALZETTE: Where Is My Mind, by The Pixies

12 Oct - Sportspaleis, ANTWERP: My God Is The Sun, by Queens Of The Stone Age [very self-aware choice]

14 Oct - Accor Arena, PARIS : Bubbles, by Biffy Clyro

15 Oct - Ziggo Dome, AMSTERDAM: Song 2, by Blur

17 Oct - Lanxess Arena, COLOGNE: Can't Stand Me Now, by The Libertines

19 Oct - O2 Arena, PRAGUE: Are You Gonna Be My Girl, by Jet

20 Oct - Mercedes Benz Arena, BERLIN: Friday I’m In Love, by The Cure

22 Oct - Olympiahalle, MUNICH: Praise You, by Fatboy Slim

23 Oct - Hallenstadion, ZURICH: Last Nite, by The Strokes

8 Nov - 3Arena, DUBLIN: These Are The Days, by Inhaler

10 Nov - Utilita Arena, SHEFFIELD: Mr. Brightside, by The Killers

11 Nov - AO Arena, MANCHESTER: This Charming Man, by The Smiths

12 Nov - Ovo Hydro, GLASGOW: Gloria, by The Snuts

14 Nov - Brighton Center, BRIGHTON: I Wanna Be Sedated, by Ramones

15 Nov - International Arena, CARDIFF: 20th Century Boy, by T-Rex

17 Nov - The O2, LONDON: Can’t Stand Me Now, by The Libertines

18 Nov - Resorts World Arena, BIRMINGHAM: Till The End Of The Road, by Boyz II Men

You can also find the list at this Twitter account: ltwtoutros.

[lesbiansovereverything]

MOLLY

I’d like to say I came out of the womb knowing I was a lesbian, but growing up Catholic in a small town in Ohio, of course there was a little more nuance than that. As a kid, I always felt like I identified with lesbians. Anytime I came across one on TV or in the wild, I would think “we have something in common”, but I wasn’t able to articulate what. On numerous occasions, I remember having the exact thought “I’m probably a lesbian, but I’ll deal with that later” and then neatly folding that thought up, stuffing it in a box, and hoping it stayed there. I came out when I was 16. The day it all came together in my head, I was on spring break in the Gulf Coast with my mom and I felt like I was going to throw up for 3 days straight. I came out to my family several months later. There was some initial chaos, but I imagine the ordeal ultimately left my family with an “oh duh” reaction, reflecting on my 5 gallon bucket of Hot Wheels and my brother’s hand-me-down basketball shorts that were effectively glued to my body from ages 7 to 12. 

I graduated from Columbia College Chicago with an acting degree and moved to LA (with a brief stint living in the attic of my girlfriend’s grandparent’s house– which is really hot and sexy). I struggled to find where I fit in as an artist in this industry. I found myself frustrated with the projects available to lesbians. They were either too chaste, focused only on the heart-wrenching experiences of struggling to come out, or overtly sexual for male consumption. Not finding the kinds of stories that excited me, I took to the page and began writing my first play, Modern Butchood, which will debut this summer at the Hollywood Fringe Festival. I wanted to write something truthful to my experience as a lesbian. Something complicated and not colored by a need for approval from those outside the community. A piece written by a lesbian for lesbians. When it comes to normalizing the gay lifestyle in our society, the first step is showing that gay people are ‘just like us’, they can be upstanding members of our community, loving parents, and committed partners. What I am interested in as an artist is the step after that: Gay people can be just like us, just as broken and insecure, make the same bad decisions, long for the same approval. We are all human after all. 

In my free time, I find myself indulging in a stereotypical list of gay hobbies: rock climbing, wood working, roller skating, and the newest addition– trying to put together a women’s softball team. If you or someone you know wants to be on my softball team, let me know. 

[eretzyisrael]

By Lior Zaltzman

I keep thinking I might be done crying since October 7, and then I realize, as more and more news keeps pouring in, there will always be more tears. Today, those tears are thanks to Rachel Goldberg, a dual American-Israeli citizen who talked to the U.N. about her son, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who was kidnapped by Hamas from the Supernova festival in Re’im, where almost 300 were killed.

It has been both devastating and inspiring to see how the families of hostages are sharing some of the most eloquent, prescient words to describe the situation they find themselves in, even with all their fear and grief. Through sleepless nights, they are finding a kind of endless energy to fight these battles. For Goldberg, these battles have led her from her home in Jerusalem, where she got two text message from her son — “I love you” and “I’m sorry” — hours before his phone was last geo-located across the border in Gaza to the U.N. in New York this Wednesday.

Goldberg, who is originally from Chicago, described, in as much detail as she could, what happened to her son, who was  celebrating his 23rd birthday at the festival, during that terrible day almost three weeks ago. Everything she knows she managed to glean from a few survivors who were near Hersh at the time, hiding under stacks of bodies and pretending to be dead.

“Here I live in a different universe than all of you,” she explained to the U.N. “You are right there… but I, like all of the mothers and all of the fathers and husbands and wives and sisters and brothers and loved ones of the stolen, we actually live on a different planet.” She went on to say the cruelest of questions is one that they get asked unwittingly, without malice, every day: “How are you?”

While she and the rest of the families of the over 200 hostages, who hold citizenships from 33 different countries, are in their “planet of agony… this planet of beyond pain, our planet of no sleep, our planet of despair, our planet of tears,” she asks, “Where is the world? … Why is no one demanding just proof of life?… This is a global humanitarian catastrophe,” she cried.

Goldberg also talked about “the hatred showered on Israel.” She said that she felt an article she read put it best: “When you only get outraged when one side’s baby is killed, then your moral compass is broken, and your humanity is broken.”

She implored people to ask themselves, “Do I aspire to be human or am I swept up in the enticing and delicious world of hatred?” She understands that “hatred of the other, whoever we decide that other is, is seductive, sensuous and most of all, it’s easy.” But, she said, it’s “not helpful, nor is it constructive.”

[whilereadingandwalking]

When best friends Gottmik and Gigi Gorgeous get together, they “spiral.” They can’t help but brainstorm their next move. That creative energy resulted in The T Guide: Our Trans Experiences and a Celebration of Gender Expression―Man, Woman, Nonbinary, and Beyond, a book about their experiences, Gottmik (aka Kade Gottlieb) as a trans man and Gigi Gorgeous as a trans woman.

“This book,” Gigi Gorgeous emphasizes, “is all about safety.” She and Gottmik are able to share their journeys and their cautionary tales, as well as basic information that’s difficult to find elsewhere about transitioning, surgery, and much more. The book is a refuge and a source for youth and for parents and other allies. It also features a long list of contributors, from Sasha Colby to ALOK to their own parents, which helps bring in a wide range of experiences. “It opened my brain up,” Gottmik admitted, reading some of the stories of other contributors.

The two authors hope that the book can help fight the flood of misinformation currently out there. They opened up about how hard it was to get their ID and gender markers changed—Gottmik said it took them six months to get a psychiatrist appointment to even start the process to get hormones. “My medical transition has saved my life,” Gottmik said, and while it isn’t necessary for all trans people to do, it’s important for allies and trans people to know the facts so they can transition safely and have the support they deserve. 

Gottmik, Gigi Gorgeous, and host Aurora Sexton encouraged allies, including ones within the queer community (which has plenty of transphobia) to educate themselves so that trans people can protect their own energy and not always be the ones forced to speak up in an increasingly dangerous world for gender non-conforming and trans people. After the Chicago Humanities Festival event, the two stars spent a generous amount of their time talking to and taking photos with attendees while signing books.

“We’re going to keep fighting,” Gottmik writes in the new book. “We’re going to keep normalizing the trans experience. So, everyone’s going to have to get into it or get lost.”

Photos 1 and 3 courtesy of DT Kindler.

[tzpera]

It's really a great interview. I'm so proud of him and happy that he is invited even though he can't talk about his acting projects at the moment because corporations can't get their act together and pay actors and creators fairly.

I'm also glad every time he talks about sustainability in clothing and the impact of fast fashion, and it was fascinating to learn more about what his journey in this area looked like.

Below there are my favourite parts from this article:

“I started modeling when I was 15 years old and clothing always fascinated me and the process of [how and where it was made]. I was doing department store and catalog work back in the day, so going on location was just a ton of clothing, that was like going to Disneyland every time you had a job.”

"A friend in the jewelry industry recommended he watch the 2015 documentary “The True Cost” on fast fashion, and he says it shifted his mindset."

“We’re never taught any of this stuff. We hear about poor working conditions for factory workers; dye that’s being released into the waterways in different countries; the exploitation of women, but it’s never really at an arm’s reach.”

I like that they started the talk from the beginning of his passion - how it all started from the modelling and how he learnt, became more aware, and developed as a human. I'm thankful to this person who recommended to him the documentary that changed his way of looking at the fashion industry.

“Sometimes people don’t care, they just want to see pictures of you on set; your shirt off or what food you’re eating — they just want stuff to scroll past, but why not diversify our platforms? You can educate, entertain and be goofy.”

Nice to read that he intends to continue sharing this type of content even though many people don't care, but some do, and maybe more will start thanks to him.

“As I got older and started watching Academy Award and Cannes Film Festival winners, your taste shifts, but I’m not going to lie, you have ‘Oppenheimer,’ ‘Barbie’ and ‘Avatar’ — those major movies are sick. How can you not like them? I cried so hard [at Avatar],” says Zakhar Perez.

"I’m open to crying. For a long time it was that South Side Chicago mentality of no crying in baseball, but with acting classes, you become more in touch with your feelings,” he adds.

So real 🥹🥰

In the absence of acting, Zakhar Perez hints at working with an outdoor company next year on a small collaboration.

Can't wait to see what it is, but it seems to match his interests and personality.

❤️❤️❤️

[uchicagoscrc]

Holding space: The Archive and Blues Tradition at the University of Chicago

Performance spaces like the Checkerboard Lounge, Theresa’s, Buddy Guy’s Legends, Club DeLisa, Pepper’s Lounge, Gerri’s Palm Tavern, and the Parkway Lounge have, historically, made the City of Chicago synonymous with the Blues. They were critical neighborhood institutions that also helped to forge local community ties and pathways for global connections. However, extant narratives of the history of Chicago Blues are absent of the part that The University of Chicago has played in that formation. So much so, in 2003, journalist Celeste Garrett wrote that the University was “known more for generating Nobel Prize winners than for being a source of the Blues.” This is true. At present, in fact, there are 97 Nobel Prize winners who are or have been associated with the University. However, what is little known about the institution, as the archive reveals, is that The University of Chicago played a small, but crucial, role in fashioning a space and place for the presence and preservation of Chicago Blues history and culture.

Perchance, the University’s manifold attractions and interests and distractions, along with its perceived distance to African American history and lifeworld’s, we tend to disassociate it with such diasporic cultural attractions and productions such as Blues. Contrary to popular belief, the University, equal to the institutions listed above, held space for the blues, its traditions, and celebrated and prepared for its thriving futurity.

In the 1940s, the campus hosted its first blue’s performance. Then, in 1952, the first major concert was produced, with performances by Chick Heston, Preston Jackson, John Henly, William “King” Colax, Ernest Crawford, and Mammy Yancy, headlined by Mahalia Jackson, and sponsored by the “Student Cultural Clubs.” On campus Howlin’ Wolf and Muddy Waters were among the most favored performers and personalities. Howlin’ Wolf first performed at UC in 1960 and at the end of the decade an advertisement in the classifieds of the Daily Maroon read, “Who the hell wants to go to Washington when Howlin’ Wolf is playing right here on campus, tomorrow nite [sic] for only $1.50 (sure beats $25).” And, in 1962, the Salisbury House hosted a dinner for Muddy Waters, engaging him on the blues, his life story, his artistry and aesthetics and philosophy. These events seemed to cement the Blue’s in the cultural landscape of the institution that no one seemed to be aware of in spite of the festivals that grew up there, including the annual Folk Festival organized by the Folk Society, the Blues and Ribs festival that came later, and the Logan Center Bluesfest and the other concerts that were promoted by Enterprise Productions, the Alumni Association, and the Inter Fraternity Council. Though concerts were put on at Mandel Hall, other spaces around campus were (or became) places for the Blues, including Bartlett Gymnasium, Ida Noyes Hall, and, much later, the Logan Center for the Arts.

The concerts were not exclusively to student or UC associates; the invites were extended to all interested in the music. Many came to the University for those performances to be baptized and delivered in the holy sonic waters of such artists like Chester Burnett, Big Bill Broonzy, Buddy Guy, James Cotton, Elvin Bishop’s Big Fun Trio, Jimmy Johnson, Eddy Clearwater, Corky Siegel, Lil’ Ed, and Melody Angel, Willie Dixon, Elizabeth Cotten, “Mississippi” John Hurt, Roscoe Holcomb, the Stanley Brothers, Paul Butterfield, Louis Killen, Koko Taylor, and Billy Branch, among many others. As with the blues performances scattered about the city, reverberating the blues houses near and far, the clientele that patronized the university concerts, came to lay down the quotidian, the stuff that invented the blues, what Houston Baker surmised as the “world of transience, instability, hard luck, brutalizing work, lost love, minimal security, and enduring human wit and resourcefulness in the face of disaster.”

What’s more, the University of Chicago offered to help preserve the culture of the blues in the city by keeping the Checkerboard Lounge open (that closed in 2003, but reopened in Hyde Park in 2005), while many of the other clubs that helped to place Chicago Blue’s on the map have closed. During the early negotiations of this transition, former UC Vice President for Community and Government Affairs, referring to these historical neighborhood institutions, most notably the Checkerboard, argued for this rescue plan saying, “It’s an important place in history in a city where it’s important to preserve it.” He was right.

The University of Chicago’s influence doesn’t end there: the institution has been acknowledged for its impact on the Nobel Prize winning blues instrumentalist Henry Threadgill, who learned avant-garde classical music attending performances of the Contemporary Chamber Players at the University of Chicago growing up. As well as Elvin Bishop, another Chicago native, of the Elvin Bishop Group, who also attended classes at the University of Chicago, who made the Southside and West Side digs his classroom as well. And there are others, not to mention, Paul Butterfield whose band, as Paul Eisenberg reported earlier this year, The Butterfield Blues Band was formed out of the many activities surrounding the blues festival that was organized at the University of Chicago. The band went on to become a major influence abroad spreading the Chicago-style blues abroad, furthering the legacy of the many blues artists who descended upon the city many years prior.

This dive here is but a brief one; perhaps the start of an archival project to investigate the overall impact that the University has had on the Blues community in Chicago, and, more specifically, the African American community throughout the Southside who favored the institution as their scene for blues performances and have recollections regarding it as a site of memory. Howard Reich noted in 2005 that “. . . Chicago blues are everywhere in this town – if you know how to listen.” It appears that the sonic resonances of the blues are everywhere in the University’s archives. By listening to the archive available at the University, then, where it intersects with the Blue’s scene across the city and, most notably, within the Black community, researchers might find other profound socially based reverberations and hidden histories of the blue’s, reflecting and fomenting other realities and pathways for understanding the past and present conditions of Chicago’s communities.

Literary scholar Steve Tracy reminds us that “. . . the blues provides ‘a structured but expansive place for the individual to relate to and express the community, and for artists to touch home base but still express themselves individually.” We are uniquely positioned to expand with deeper dives into the library’s digitized collections (including the Campus Publications and the Photographic Archives) and University Archives, to discover and institute pathways for transformative community building and public history projects.

Images Top to Bottom:

Audience enjoying a Blues concert, circa 1990s. Photograph by Adam Lisberg, Chicago Maroon. UChicago Photographic Archive apf7-03946.

Three young women enjoy barbecued ribs at the Blues and Ribs festival in the University of Chicago's Ida Noyes Hall, October 1997. Photograph by Melody Weinstein, Chicago Maroon. UChicago Photographic Archive apf7-05986-001.

Buddy Guy plays a concert with his band in Mandel Hall at the University of Chicago, January 24, 1992. Photograph by Richard Kornylak, Chicago Maroon. UChicago Photographic Archive apf7-03949-002.

[stephenjaymorrisblog]

Barely Living in the 20’s

(Green Day’s new album)

Stephen Jay Morris

1/24,2024

©Scientific Morality.

I saw a pink flamingo on someone’s front lawn the other day, it reminded me of Taylor Swift. She is today’s American icon. I saw a helium balloon floating in the sky with Charlie Kirk’s face on it—The jealous Christian Nationalist, who wants to tame that Taylor shrew. Fuck that dude! I am waiting for an Amazon drone to deliver the latest Green Day album to me. I listened to the whole album on YouTube. I can’t wait!

I am not going to give the typical music critic’s review here. Some may love it. Some may dislike it, and anyway—does anybody listen to critics anymore? Go log on to YouTube and judge for yourself.

Music is the soundtrack of life. Believe me, it is. When I listen to a song from 1959 to 2024, it will conjure up memories in me. Yes, the olfactory route can do that to me, too, but music? Yeah, now that’s the ticket!

In 1969, at 15, I was jumped by a street gang. They took me back to their apartment and worked me over. On the radio, “My Cherie Amour” by Stevie Wonder, was playing. Now, every time I hear that song, I relive that painful moment in my life. It is a beautiful song. Then there are other songs that remind me of my ex-girlfriends. Or times in history.

I’ll say one thing about this album’s collection of songs. Their influences are obvious and fun to identify. So what? This could have been “American Idiot, part two.” You think I care?

These songs, however, are an emotional necessity to maintain one’s sanity in 2024. From genocide to political buffoonery, while humanity is making an ass of itself, an alienated poet spells out his alienation with lyrical rhymes. Like Billy Joe Armstrong, I am disenchanted with current American ambiance. Niro played the fiddle as Rome burned. Me? I play guitar as the American empire burns. Why not? Somebody should. Green Day does. They are not just a “let’s party band.” They’ve got poetic observations they want to share with everyone. My ears are open. Jesus! We need a soundtrack to these days of insanity!

Music won’t change the world, but it can change your mind. I cling on to that proposition like a crucifix in the palm of my hand. I need the tintinnabulation of bar chords and the feedback of amps. Before I used to go to demonstrations, I’d slap on my MC5 album to psyche myself up. I need emotional cleansing or the acids in my belly will eat me alive. Green Day has the goods to do that.

This summer, there will be a protest at the Democratic Party convention in Chicago. The last time it happened was in 1968. The MC5 performed at the festival of life at Grant Park. They were the only band who had the courage to show up. Wouldn’t it be neat if Green Day showed up? Yeah. It would.

[zenosanalytic]

Okay, gotta ask - where can we read more about Cahokia?

XD That's a BIG subject obvsl, and there's allot of research and scholarship on it out there, not all of which will agree with the take I presented. I particularly enjoyed Graeber and Wengrow's handling of it in The Dawn of Everything(pp. 330, 399, 452, 464-9, 475, 482, 503), which is probably the most direct inspiration for that particular reblog-reply(tho: their handling of it is part of larger arguments, so it'd probably be better if you, at least, read from Chapter 9 to the conclusion to see HOW they're using it and why).

Another discussion of Cahokia I love, though it only touches on the issues I mentioned in that reply sort of tangentially(ie: by discussing all the human sacrifice they were doing), is Ancient Faith and the Fall of Cahokia, a lecture the anthropologist Tim Pauketat gave as part of the Chicago Humanities Festival in 2017...

...Or at least I THINK that's the lecture I liked; it's the most likely one in my youtube History, but I haven't watched it recently so idk if it is THE one(the one I'm remembering was a discussion of how the religion practiced at Cahokia was embedded both in the landscape and in a sort of "conversation" with cosmic forces? And how the sacrifices related to that "conversation"?? So if that lecture is about that then it IS the one I remember). The channel Ancient Americas also has a good summary of the research on Cahokia circa 2022, though the channel-runner's not an academic so he just sticks to the consensus positions.

[cinema-tv-etc]

Mutt 2023

Fena, a young trans guy bustling through life in New York City, is afflicted with an incessantly challenging day that resurrects ghosts from his past. Laundromats, subway turnstiles, and airport transfers are the hectic background to this emotional drama that overlaps past, present, and future. Settling the disharmony of transitional upheaval in relationships familial, romantic, and platonic is Fena2s task at hand, and his resulting juggling act is equal parts skillful, fumbling, and honest. In negotiating his obliqueness, the poignant moments he finds between himself and others as the distance between them closes are warm, true, and touching

Q&A with MUTT Filmmaker Vuk Lungulov-Klotz and Stars Lío Mehiel, Cole Doman & MiMi Ryder

Chilean and Serbian immigrants, he was raised between Chile, the US, and Serbia. As a transgender storyteller, he hopes to expand queer narratives. His work focuses on intimate moments we often miss if we're not looking. Mutt is his debut feature film. With his feature film script, MUTT, he is an alum of the Sundance Institute Labs, the Inside Out Financing Forum, and was a top five finalist for the Tribeca / AT&T Untold Stories Grant. His award winning trans-themed short film, "Still Liam," played at festivals internationally and earned the attention of celebrated queer filmmakers Ira Sachs and Silas Howard, who have both become mentors. Vuk is also an alum of the Ryan Murphy HALF Initiative Program, where he completed a mentorship under director Janet Mock on the FX series POSE. He lives in Brooklyn, NY.

Lío Mehiel is a Puerto Rican and Greek artist, actor, and filmmaker. Their work spans film, television, multimedia installation, theater, and events. They are fascinated by the inherent contradiction of the trans experience — one deeply rooted in the body while also transcending beyond the body. Lío began their career as a professional salsa dancer and child actor on Broadway. They can now be seen on shows like WeCrashed (Apple+) and Tales of the City (Netflix). MUTT is their feature film debut. As a filmmaker, Lío produced Chaperone, a queer short film which premiered at Sundance 2022. They wrote, directed, produced, and starred in Disforia, a short film which premiered at Outfest Film Festival in 2018. They are now stuck inside of a psychomagic act with this story as they write the feature script version and confront their own medical transition. As an installation artist, their immersive piece Arcade Amerikana was included in the list of 10 Best Immersive Shows in NYC by Time Out and GOTHAMIST. Lío is currently the producer and creative director of Angels, a developing collection of stone sculptures of transgender humans. The works were first featured as part of a pop-up installation at Outfest LA in 2022, and will be debuted in full at SIZED Gallery LA in 2023. Lío is a co-founder of Voyeur Productions with Russell Kahn and Dulcinee DeGuere. They attended Northwestern University, and are an alumni of the Emerge NYC residency program for artists and activists. Photo credit: Jordan Rossi

Cole Doman is a trained stage and film actor living in Brooklyn, NY. During his time in Chicago, he studied at the School at Steppenwolf under Amy Morton, Tarell Alvin McCraney, Michael Patrick Thornton, and more. Chris Jones of the Chicago Tribune named Cole among the "Hot New Faces of Chicago Theater" in 2016. He made his film debut as the titular role in the critically acclaimed HENRY GAMBLE'S BIRTHDAY PARTY directed by Stephen Cone. He has profiles with IndieWire, Brooklyn Magazine, OUT, Milk.xyz, and was featured as one of "Best Breakout Performances of 2016" by The Film Stage. He can also be seen in Alan Ball's UNCLE FRANK (Sundance 2020, Amazon Studios) as young Frank Bledsoe played by Paul Bettany. On television he has appeared in Let the Right One In, Gossip Girl, Modern Family, Law & Order: SVU, Chicago PD, Equal, and Shameless. He developed & stars in the short film Starfuckers (MUBI) directed by Antonio Marziale which was presented in competition at Sundance Film Festival, Berlinale, and Telluride Film Festival. Other forthcoming films include: Matt Fifer’s sophomore feature TREATMENT for AMC’s Shudder and Zia Anger’s debut feature MY FIRST FILM for MUBI. Mostrecently, he starred in the world premiere of Your Own Personal Exegesis by Julia May Jonas at Lincoln Center Theatre, directed by Annie Tippe, for which his performance was lauded by The New York Times and even cartooned by The New Yorker.

[johnsummitmerch]

John Summit Merch

John Schuster known professionally as John Summit, is an American electronic dance music producer and DJ from Chicago. John has played festivals such as Coachella, Electric Daisy Carnival in Las Vegas, Lollapalooza, Tomorrowland and Movement in Detroit. His Song "Sun Came Up" with Sofi Tukker reached the top 40 charts. John Started his own label "Off The Grid Records" in 2022. John's Song "Human" hit number 1 on US Dance Radio. Buy John Summit Merch Here!

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#johnsummitmerch #johnsummitmerchandise

[poemswhileyouwait]

"The Secret to Happiness" by Kathleen Rooney -- Chicago Humanities Festival, 10.28.23