2/28/11
Happenings: Buddy Wakefield
2/27/11
Happenings: Louder Than a Bomb
2/25/11
Happenings: 100 Foot Ride @ Happy Collab
"The Happy Collaborationists (in partnership with ACRE) present a looped 16mm film installation work by Chicago artist Alexander Stewart, 100 Foot Ride. Continuing a series of projects that use the 100-foot length of a roll of 16mm film as a formal constraint, 100 Foot Ride combines durational performance art with a Structural-film format. In this piece, the artist constructed a contraption with a loop of wire connecting a stationary bicycle with a 16mm Bolex camera. As the artist pedals the bicycle, the wire turns a handle, which cranks the film through the camera. While 100 feet is not traditionally a challenging distance for a bicyclist, the 100-foot length of the roll of film translates into a difficult task for the artist as he struggles with the physical task of pedaling while battling the entropy of his jury-rigged bike-camera contraption."
happycollab
ACRE
alexstew
(as cribbed from face-eating-book).
2/24/11
Happenings: WSSD Launch, Chi-exchange
"there will be an open mic with sign-up available the night of the show for those of you who like to get down. Per usual, there will be beverages at an extremely reasonable price (we ask that you do not b your own b).
$5 donation or pay-what-you-can (no one turned away for being broke). All proceeds go toward paying the performers, the space, and to fund future projects."
This is basically a house party so please respect the space.
The City is Yours! Chicago Exchange
Thursday 2/24th @ wicker well & Friday 2/25 @ multi kulti/Q4
the Fest promises a shit-ton of music, mural painting, poetry reading, they're gonna sell food, they're gonna have "dance collectives", it seems like the kinda show you can just kinda bring a djembe, a poem, or some cool pins to hustle. they want community involvement, give it to 'em; bring art supplies, perform a skit, wear something silly. donations at the door, refreshments in the back, respect the space. it's an undisclosed secret hideout visible only to wizards {floating somewhere around 1000 N Milwaukee) and has been host to story slams, jams, free expression & empanadas.
This event has an ambitious purpose: "There will be music from all over the world each day, and with your help we can create or awaken a new culture in Chicago."
*
Coming on the heels another round of The Bullshit Olympics, I dunno whether to laugh or cry reading that.... but that's something I hear all the time from mostly outtatowner kids traveling the city's artist underground. "we gotta build a community." I feel like we are building it, maybe based on nothing more than just a group of people united in being fucking wierdo loners, a segment of the hive, one of many tribes in the city. we trade with each other, we go to each other's shows, we have each other's backs. Multi Kulti doesn't need to panic; there is consistently a voice for people from diverse backgrounds on a stage in front of a pretty mixed group- it's not just white kids, it's not even just kids or just hippies; there is a strong Latino presence, poets and music people, friends of friends. it's just Chicago folks who are chill and like art. as far as I'm concerned, Multi Kulti already building a space that brings people together. Spaces like West Side School for the Desperate, a home for poets, are springing up all the time. There are many collectives hiding away in the city. I'm keen to see if these guys can wake Chicago outta hibernation. I'm sure they can manage it at least long enuf to put on a good show.
2/23/11
Happenings: Monster Art, Windy Slam
Sure, your broke ass maybe can't afford vintage picassos or even vintage playboys, but you can try your luck getting a piece of art at the Monster Art Aution, like or some other little cool art pieces & crafty things; if you know how to work an art show there's generally free wine, food, & swag in it, not to mention the free lookee-loo at awesome shit, like a nightmare installment planned by Samantha Larson that I won't spoil. Plus, you can get some more use out of an old Halloween costume and come dressed as a monster (hipsters, come ironically dressed as a republican!).
One of the artists is my good friend Ike Floor, who meticulously crafts wire creatures pushing through walls & winter-proof woolen mock pig & swamp thing facemasks. Also featuring: ET Chong, Kyle Futrell, Seth Gershberg, George Gabe Gonzalez, Kevn Tijerina.
And since Pilsen hasn't turned into Wicker Park quite yet (though we have seen cabs crawling through and condos going up), after the show you can go get a cheap taco & maybe a 40 oz and chill in the plaza if weather permits.
Sunday, 2/27 8:30-11pm- 3rd Annual Windy City Story Slam All-City Championship. $7 at the Double Door.
If you like stories, beer and yelling, this is the fucking show for you. Local writers vy for your affections as you cheer, boo, or drink quietly depending on your mood. Story Slam is a mash-up of Boxing & Poetry Slam rules created by Bill Hillman, with Crowd Noise as judge, (meaning, like in boxing, it can be fixed- by loading the crowd with adoring goons; but more importantly, that the fuckin crowd gets to pick the winner, not some lofty ivory tower jagoff), and boxer belts awarded to champs. This round is to crown the All-City Champ, who then goes on to the Nationals. Featuring readings by Tony Fitzpatrick & Joe Meno.
For the truly broke & desperate, here's a swindle tip: sometimes you can avoid door fees for shows by showing up super early or super late (and talking the bouncer into letting you in). Probably won't work at the hard-nosed Double Door, which has a no re-entry rule (with the exception of smoker's passes), but try your luck if you're a Scrooge (or an Artful Dodger). Me, Imma pay the mere $7 fee, cuz the Windy City Story Slam is the fucking shit, pumping the life blood into the lonely hall of literature. Where else can you boo a lame story, or cheer a kick-ass one? No English Lit class I know of.
By the way, last year I interviewed my friend Alex Bonner when he won Slam Champ here . He'll be doing a probly hilarious presentation on "what it's like to be the champ". Hopefully with Powerpoint.
Free For All Improv @ Playground Sundays
It's good, dirty fun as God intended, and it's fucking free. plus you can rock a 40. Jokes & Awardness Galore. What more could ya ask for?
It's hit or miss but these are some really funny guys (and, uh, whatever the lady-version of "guy" is) in this show, founded some years back by Kolena (heavy on I.O. & 2nd City cred) featuring Hair Club For Men and other groups that that take risks, visit strange places, and sometimes totally spaz the fuck out. Sometimes they can be really brilliant. Sure, it's great when a joke goes off real well and gets a big laugh, but it's also awesome to see these guys thrash about, fuck up, struggle out & joke it off. There's a lotta comradry between the groups and the indulgent audience. It's a nice, chill little show.
There's generally some kinda show after, sometimes also free. Well, technically it's free, but you'd be a real dick not to give these guys a buck. They sure as hell work for it.
"The Guns & Knives are free!" says outdated youtube self promotion video
2/21/11
Voting is Free, (it's the other jerkoffs votes that'll cost ya)
The 24th Ward: Lotta Need, Lotta Names, but who's got the skills?
(this is an extended version of a piece on the 24th Ward that appeared in Streetwise)
The needs of Chicago's 24th ward are basic and urgent: jobs, homes, streets you can walk down without fear. What they really need is a voice after years of neglect. The ward, which slices through most of North Lawndale and parts of Austin, Little Village, & East Garfield Park, is littered with empty lots, abandoned factories, and boarded-up buildings; many have stood empty for over 40 years. The people of the 24th ward are poor, mostly African American, with a smaller portion of the Hispanic population (some recent immigrant families), and an even smaller number of mostly poor whites. Needless to say, this poor, mostly black area has been ghettoized and ignored by the city for generations.
I live nearby, in Little Village, where a sharp line divides the 'hoods along lines drawn by aging men years ago, maintained by 15 year olds by spraypaint & intimidation. Lawndale is one of those place that white people tell you not to go to, it's a "bad neighborhood". It's a heartless and cowardly attitude, but there's some sense to it; the shit you see there ain't pretty. I will never forget the little old man who got on the bus after having fallen down an open manhole. The poor guy was dressed in a stylish, formal suit and was terribly embarrassed to have to be getting on a bus stinking of sewage, apologizing profusely to his fellow passengers, but he didn't seem particularly ambulatory and certainly must have been in a rush to get home. As I was talking with him I asked if he'd call the city, and he said yes, that the person on the other end of the phone told him he "shoulda stayed down there". Nobody on the bus batted an eye at this.
You wonder how much longer the status quo can hold: how much longer will Chicago's miserable poor be ignored?
This year's aldermanic race is full of people who say they want to save their ward. Many of them seem to really mean it. The 24th ward is host to a crowded race for alderman this year, as it has in years past, with all 20 candidates promising change, which is what politicians do. I spoke with a few of the contenders.
I met up with Melissa Williams at a crowded, noisy McDonald's down Kedzie in Lawndale. Then we thought better of it and drove down the street to a little restaurant on Pulaski. The place was decorated with photographs of African American political leaders, so it was kinda a perfect setting for a sit-down with an ambitious candidate.
Williams stresses communication in her campaign. In a K-town forum posted on youtube, she emphasizes this repeatedly, "I'm running to be your representative. I'm not running to be that person that just runs out ahead of you and leaves you and leads you and doesn't come back and talk to you, explain things to you, and listen to your ideas...we're gonna be communicating constantly". She even plans to create a youth council.
All the candidates say it at some point; the common refrain in a campaign in which the previous (and yet, still current) contenders are accused of hiding in their offices, ignoring their constituents, and not doing enough for the Ward.
Williams said she started getting involved in the ward when she was 16 (attending Whitney Young); her stepfather was a pastor in a North Lawndale church, and she remembers marching to get abandoned buildings torn down. Then she went away to study law & political science at John Marshall and Bradley. But she never forgot about her community. "I would come back home to visit and then eventually move back home and saw that not much had improved,things pretty much had gotten worse". Williams has worked in housing. She is frank, energetic, passionate. She indicates she will fight for increased funding of social services, even if it means raising taxes.
According to Williams, "in order to prevent the community from being completely turned over and gentrified, to prevent some of the people who have lived here forever from being pushed out, we have to take a stand as a community."
Gentrification may seem a long way off from the far-west former Chicago ghettos that are still Chicago's ghettos. A slice of ( Fucking Kickass Journalism by Steve Bogira attacking the subject of segregation was published in the Reader last month. So, y'know, if you ever want to read some actual good journalism, go check out the Reader.)
But it's already creeping into the ward from the West Loop, where stubborn yuppies and their corporate overlords (aka parents) are attempting to turn the city's remaining slab of hogbutcher to the world, the meatpacking district in a manufacturing heavy area near downtown into a hip spot for young, loaded professionals. That combined with spillover from UIC and the city colleges, including artsy-fartsy Columbia students & their hippie & hipster friends, is slowly pushing out to the south and west. White people have swarmed down like locusts on Pilsen, which will push out residents like a crowd swarming backwards, hopefully without too many violent gang readjustments. In the 24th, East Garfield Park is the place to watch, but with the economy still in a slump the threat level is only at Atomic Tangerine.
I asked other candidates what they thought about gentrification, how they could promote integration instead of displacement. Nobody seemed to have a concrete plan for resolving the problem; the refrain is that people need to communicate, have pride in their community, and build up their own skills, create their own businesses in the neighborhood. But nobody proposed a specific ordinance or game plan for keeping affordable housing in such an eventuality. And after all, the current focus is making the ward more habitable for those already living there.
"We need to develop the people who are here to take advantage of those opportunities" says Valerie Leonard, "you know, there's always gonna be survival of the fittest and the good thing about people who are here is they are survivors. The thing is, we need to make sure that people receive the education they need."
When Valerie Leonard speaks she unravels encyclopedic knowledge of TIF funds (if you don't know what TIF funds are, read Joravsky), business structure, and strategies. She is very practical in her approach, with lots of elaborate plans and strategies that she makes easily available to anyone who want to know. It's no suprise- she's been active in various community campaigns, particularly when it comes to TIFs. She appears to already have a basic outline for what committees she will form in order to organize the community. Of all the candidates I spoke with, she was the only one to criticize the idea of forming a council of one's appointments, saying that she wouldn't want to create an "elite group"; smart thinking. She is a vocal critic, as are many aldermanic candidates of late especially in underserved wards like the 24th, critical of Daley programs like Renaissance 2011, which she was was just "shuffling the chairs on the titanic".
Leonard describes her candidacy as a "spiritual journey". When I ask her something along the lines of how can the impoverished side of Chicago can gain leverage in City Council, She says that "when Gandhi moved it was with powerless people when Martin Luther King moved it was with poor powerless people, many of whom were youth. so it's not always money power it's people power, being able to organize... and make people realize their power within." Leonard is endorsed by both the Tribune & the Sun-Times.
Tough, compassionate Regina D. Lewis, a foster mother of five (grown), once turned her home into a shelter, Ashunti House; and has for the past 19 years been CEO of Ashunti Residential Management Systems (ARMS). She says she's "not scared of the Mayor", and I believe her; but, like many of the candidates, politically inexperience; it's hard to imagine her wrangling with some of the slimiest legal minds in the city, although she has rehabilitated "ex-offenders, homeless, drug user...mental, bipolar, you name it I have housed it." (K-Town Forum). She is a Biology Major (Jackson State), and her focus is on "human and social development", rehabilitating ex-offenders, and job training; a focus on this is so laser-like that I wonder at times why she doesn't just specialize in that. She also stresses communication and has been working tirelessly with various community organizations such as the NAACP, CAPS, and the Westside Ministers Coalition for years. Regina Lewis is someone who has earned respect as a community leader. She says her office on Pulaski will always be open to those in need (a profile of her can be read in the North Lawndale Community News).
Talking to political candidates is difficult for me at first, not just because of my overwhelming social anxiety but also because I don't know how I can trust them, so I just don't. I know I'm not as smart as some of them, I don't know shit about how a fucking budget works (numbers? what?) or anything, but yet I have to scratch out some sort of truth otta the bastards. Still, speaking to someone like Regina Lewis in her bustling office full of admirers on a strip of tiny struggling storefronts, vacant lots, trash-strewn streets, I feel my claws instinctually detract some. For all I know Lewis is a secret bastard like Mother Theresa, but I don't believe that. I believe that Lewis, Leonard, Williams, and many of the other candidates love their community and want to help it. I want to believe that they want to change things. But it's a tough job. Especially if the fortune tellers are right and we get another tough mayor. We need aldermen who can stand up against that.
Talking with the candidates, the main problems of the community were clearly outlined to me over and over again as we both worked to make sure we hit our talking points. Housing? It's not affordable, so it stands vacant while people struggle with homelessness. Education is inadequate, better schools with a more localized approach are needed. Money is needed for local schools. Schools need to be safer. Education is key to finding jobs. Crime? CAPS is failing. Cops need to get along better with the community in order to get the community to work with them. Crime will persist until people can find employment. Jobs? They're scarce, and the people in the community are under-qualified for many of them. They need job training.
Sensing a theme here?
Vetress Boyce says her decision to run is "based wholly upon the cry of the people". That cry? Jobs, jobs, jobs." A businesswoman, Boyce's "number one focus is killing poverty". She says increased police on the streets would be "a band-aid on a gunshot wound... it's poverty that we need to tackle, not locking people up".
Other candidates, like Williams, expressed a similar sentiment. It's no secret that Chicago cops treat minorities in troubled communities with an attitude ranging from disdainful to illegally violent; as a result, the community becomes distrustful of cops and even more invested in the underground economy, which for many is the best job prospect they have. Talking with candidates, I hear over and over the saying that some of the men standing out on the corner don't want to be there. I'd wager that the man who wanted to be out on that corner was rarer than that.
Frank Bass says he would like to see Chicago cops walking a beat, getting to know residents. Bass worked as a cook county lobbiest for ten years, and brags (at the K-Town forum) of getting things done for his neighbors by calling up friends at City Hall. He says that he is "opposed to all taxes". He is a Chairman on the Board of the North Lawndale Community News.
Shavonda Fields, an Associate Minister at Familiy Altar E.B. Church. She'll tell you that she's worked as minister, a missionary and a preacher (apparently, even at political events provided they're held in a church, although she says she will keep these roles separate). Fields overcame homelessness at a young age, and to this day she and her family will bring homeless people soup and hot chocolate on cold days. She says her priority in the ward is public safety. She wants to see people "create culture" in the ward.
She's referring in part to the lack of entertainment venues in the area. Melissa Williams puts it this way; "we need to be creative in our community", rolling off a list of possibilities for the ward: sit-down restaurants by locals, a skating rink, a banquet facility... Development is a key word in this campaign.
Sondra Spellman has had a life-long passion for politics, working as a campaign worker, poll watcher, and judge of elections. She once worked on Chandler's campaign but says he "lost his way". She says the 24th ward can gain strength through increased voter power. She calls on City Hall to invest in the area, saying "if the neighborhoods are falling apart, what does it mean to have a beautiful downtown area?"
Also running are Incumbent Sharon Dixon, former alderman Micheal Chandler, former NBA player Wallace E. "Mickey" Johnson, retired H.S. principle Julius Anderson, Wilbert E. Cook III, Donielle C. Lawson, Martivius Carter, Chauncey L. Stroud, Jimmy Lee Lard, Jeffery D. Turner, and Larry G. Nelson. Patricia Marshall and Roger L. Washington (a preacher/cop with a youtube campaign in which he shows off a brief Obama bodyguard stint and showcases the endorsements of his students) were knocked off the ballot (all the candidates were challenged; kinda reminds me of another brilliant Joravsky article) are running as write-ins.
All candidates spoke of TIF reform, salary cuts, and standing up to the mayor. Time will tell the sincerity of these claims. One thing's for sure- the 24th ward needs change, and many here are willing to fight for it.
2/15/11
Broke in a Blizzard
When the radio went off a few weeks ago in the middle of broadcasting the Egyptian Resistance, when the power went out and I was momentarily cut off from my creature comforts- light, heat, and my all-consuming news-junky/idle boredom /face-eating book fueled internet addiction- panic ensued. But just briefly, somewhere at the back of the spine. meanwhile, spreading from guts to naughty bits and shooting back up thru my chest, a burst of fevered excitement. Candles! Cloaks! Maybe a trash can fire!
Severed from the ability to do research, no escape in the middle of a ferocious traffic stomping Tormenta de Nieve sent straight from the cold unforgiving teat of Bitch Mother Nature, I was free of all fucking responsibility- no work, no shower, no phone! Just me stranded in the cave and a shit-ton of eager books and notebooks, possibly a candlelit jack-off session. And when it got too goddamm cold even for that, I put on as many fucking pairs of pants and shirts and long underwears and gloves and hats as I could and piled into some fucking blankets and felt like a Brave American, facing the hardships of a single night out of my element without complaining a bit, and went to fucking sleep.
In the morning, I woke up cold as hell and pulled open the door to my basement cave, walked up into the street, which was about 20 fucking degrees warmer, with snow up to my bluejeaned thighs (well, even though I can't use the dryer, I do have an extra pair of pants. yup, just one. broke.)
It was beautiful. Everything blanketed, I mean huge piles of snow, all my neighbors frantically shoveling out cars and stickin broken chairs and buckets in the space for dibs. The firemen had had a rough night of it- I watched as they furiously shoveled out the ambulances that were called all night to struggle along unplowed roads (Surely the storm fucked over some people, was tragic for some people, which must give us pause) -but those poor bastards had gone home for some well deserved rest, and the morning crew were as pleasant and friendly as firemen generally are. My landlord, a fireman as well, txted me that the door of the firehouse was stuck open and it was "fucking cold!".
I cheered and waved to the grumpy lady driver of a garbagetruck-turned-plow, she broke into a grin and waved back. Later I'd see kids clambering all over, enjoying the snow day, building elaborate snow people & igloos, hosting all-family snowball fights.
Eventually the power came back on and it was back to work for me, researching would-be politicians and comedy sketch shows (technically I'm not getting paid for either so they carry about equal weight if I'm not vigilant). The radio resumed it's crackling yell, and the dry, serious disembodied journalists regaled me with tales of the Egyptian revolution and folks stuck out on Lake Shore Drive, but made no mention of the over 12 hours of power & heatless working class 'hoods, though maybe that report came in later. It wasn't long before it was business as usual for me and the rest of the goddamm city.
But, just briefly, the power of the face-eating book was broken, the complacency, the boredom, the dullness of privilege. A tiny glimpse into what actual deprivation is like. See, I knew the lights would come back on, knew the city would take care of me, at least give me somewhere warm to stay if I needed it. Not everybody has that luxury.
My chances of surviving if dropped into the life of any one of the poor unfortunate motherfuckers who are actually poor, actually surviving is slim to nil. I'm fat, I've smoked my lungs into a coma, and I don't posses the most basic of carpentry skills. Sure I can scribble my way outta a paper bag, but that doesn't exactly help me put food on my family even in this life; I ain't Chaucer, I don't have some fucking King feasting me in exchange for dirty limericks. Fuck, if I was born in some other time or place I'd probably be stoned for the gay or burned as a witch before I had the luxury of starving to death from incompetency. I'm a broke motherfucker, sure, but I'm a privileged, lucky son of a gun too, and I fucking know it. Even if I am technically a "surf to the Corporate-ocracy" as my conspiracy theorist friends like to point out.
Don't get me wrong, sometimes it sucks to be broke- if I wasn't, I could fly to Egypt and see the Revolution first hand, rent a jet-ski and (uh... what's the verb, to jet-ski?) ...run around town, taking pictures of the awesome blizzard with my high powered camera before getting sucked into Lake Michigan by a powerful gust of wind (no disrespect to the poor bastart that actually happened to). I could live in a mansion and pay women to feed me chocolate and doctors to suck the fat outta me afterwards. I'm not sure Id be any happier, though. See, in a way I'm lucky to be broke, to have something to struggle against. Fuck rich people anyway, they're generally assholes. I'm lucky to be broke in a place where I get to eat every day no matter what and say what the fuck I want without getting stoned (although I do like to get stoned occasionally), where I can walk around without much likelihood of getting bombed or shot. Beats the hell outta bein' poor. Maybe that's the worst thing- I can't do much for myself, there's just about jack shit I can do for them. But I'm close enough to give a fuck, close enough to try. -HK
2/9/11
How to Eat on a Dime while Patroning Local Small Businesses
For the past three years I've lived all over the West Side of Chicago, and as such have done the majority of my grocery shopping in the fruiterias rather than the florescently glamourous Jewel Osco or even the more ritzy Whole Foods. It's been a struggle weening myself off the cheap frozen meals, Hostess cupcakes, and potato chips that are inexpensive and available at every turn, but now my shopping list has come to contain plenty of cheap produce and staple ingredients that you can find at any neighborhood grocery store.
- Avocados - $.79-$2: Rich in vitamins and minerals, avocados are high in monounsaturated fats which help to sustain energy levels while satisfying your appetite. They're also highly versatile and a delicious addition to many dishes (guacamole is the obvious, but they're also great additions to sandwiches or even satisfying on their own).
- Tomatoes - $1/lb: High in vitamins A & C, tomatoes boost your immune system, and studies show that they also reduce your risk for cancer. Like avocados, tomatoes are another versatile ingredient that tastes good on its own (with a little salt and pepper, if that's your thing).
- Plantains - $1-2: "They're like a cross between a banana and a potato." Plantains fucking rule, guys. They taste good sweetened or unsweetened, and compliment pretty much every meal. They all have numerous uses as key ingredients to many dishes, including the famous jibarito, which uses flattened plantains instead of bread (and are an underappreciated feature of Chicago's unique culinary culture). Personally I think they're delicious just fried with butter and cinnamon sugar.
- Corn Tortilla Products - $.49-3: I usually buy corn chips, tostadas, or tortillas instead of bread because they're cheaper, last longer, and are lower in fat & carbs. Plus, you can do a lot more with tortillas than bread, and it's easy to get creative.
- Kidney Beans - $.79: I buy them in a can. I'm not all fancy with my raw beans that I have to cook for hours before they can be eaten. Beans are high in protein and low in cholesterol, so they're good for your heart and your energy. You can make chilli with them, or the typical contemporary pauper's meal of rice and beans, or cook them with spices on their own (I flavor mine with a hint of balsamic vinegar). They also taste good with any of the above ingredients. (Are you getting a sense of a pattern here?)