Courtesy Of The Artist

The American dream, in frosting: the art of Yvette Mayorga

Do immigrants really find a better life in the U.S., or is it just a fantasia of prosperity full of barely concealed threats?

by Kerry Cardoza | Apr 25, 2018

Courtesy Eugene "eda" Wade

What ever happened to the King Memorial Mural at 43rd and Langley? 1

The artist, Eugene "Eda" Wade, wants to know, but nobody seems to have any answers.

by Jeff Huebner | Apr 24, 2018

William Frederking

At Lucky Plush's 'Tab Show,' anything can happen

The dance troupe recreates the spirit of an old roller rink and a traveling road show.

by Oliver Sava | Apr 25, 2018

Anthony Aicardi

Ashes of Light is a family drama as moody, moving, and graceful as a plume of cigarette smoke

Its Spanish title, La Luz de un Cigarrillo, is more fitting.

by Jack Helbig | Apr 25, 2018

Joel Maisonet

In A Blue Island in the Red Sea, the best intentions go badly awry

An honest conversation gets buried in too many layers of contrivance.

by Dan Jakes | Apr 27, 2018

Michael Brosilow

The plot is ripped from the headlines, but The Cake lets in a whiff of ambiguity

Bekah Brunstetter's play takes its characters to exquisitely complicated places.

by Justin Hayford | Apr 26, 2018

Evan Hanover

Ghosts of War narrates more than it represents

This adaptation of an Iraq war memoir by a "GI Joe Schmoe" is strangely lifeless.

by Irene Hsiao | Apr 27, 2018

Jan Ellen Graves

Frost/Nixon depicts the thoughtfulness and grace of . . . Richard Nixon? 1

Oh, the good old days when a former president admitted to criminal complicity on prime-time television!

by Dmitry Samarov | Apr 26, 2018

Evan Hanover

Check into this five-star Grand Hotel

Like the original production, Kokandy Productions' revival weaves serviceable material into a compelling story.

by Albert Williams | Apr 26, 2018

Courtesy Marriott Theatre

Oklahoma! throws a bright, golden haze over history

But it’s sweet, sweet nostalgia porn.

by Tony Adler | Apr 25, 2018

Shepsu Aakhu

The inchoate new MPAACT show Blood Mural misses what’s right in front of it

There’s plenty of drama in the story of Chicago’s street murals—but not here.

by Tony Adler | Apr 25, 2018

Anjali Pinto

Old Habits is bar food reborn

The kitchen at Avondale’s Ludlow Liquors is so good it gets its own name.

by Mike Sula | Apr 20, 2018

Jamie Ramsay

Astoria Café is home to some heroic buns

Irving Park's Serbian bakery has savory pastries of epic proportions, and much more.

by Mike Sula | Apr 26, 2018

A serial adulterer makes a case for himself, and gets reamed 1

Plus: What’s good for the gander is good for the gander.

by Dan Savage | Apr 25, 2018

Monument to fascist Balbo likely to remain, but aldermen could still rename street 16

A plaque explaining the controversial Italian aviator's legacy could be added to the lakefront memorial, officials said.

by John Greenfield | Apr 23, 2018

Photo By Jessica Koscielniak / Illustration By Sue Kwong

The protest songs that drove the Wobblies a century ago are still lighting fires 4

More than a century ago, Joe Hill wrote some of the most enduring anthems in the radical union’s Little Red Songbook—and today’s activists carry on that legacy of struggle through music.

by Kim Kelly | Apr 26, 2018

Ben Kolak / Scrappers Film Group

Entertainment lawyer Jay B. Ross fought for the people who made the music he loved 1

An expert negotiator, he went to bat for stars as big as James Brown and Muddy Waters, but he also clawed back royalties for countless forgotten artists who’d never gotten their due.

by Yana Kunichoff | Apr 19, 2018

Peter Gannushkin

Guitarist and oudist Gordon Grdina adapts to shifting contexts but always sounds like himself

by Peter Margasak | Apr 20, 2018

Anthony Simpkins

Nashville’s Lost Dog Street Band makes ragged-but-right folk music

by Noah Berlatsky | Apr 20, 2018

Courtesy The Artist

Trombonist Ryan Keberle puts up political resistance on Find the Common, Shine a Light

by Peter Margasak | Apr 20, 2018

Danny Clinch

Folk-rock veteran John Prine retains his wisdom and wit in his first original songs in more than a decade

by Peter Margasak | Apr 20, 2018

Tim Nagle

Chicago psych band Post Animal soak up rock’s stylistic history on their debut album

by Leor Galil | Apr 20, 2018

Courtesy The Artist

American Pleasure Club changed their name but left their heart-wrenching indie-rock intact

by Leor Galil | Apr 20, 2018

Zachariah Kobrinsky

As Anteloper, Jaimie Branch and Jason Nazary push in a bruising, electronics-kissed direction

by Peter Margasak | Apr 20, 2018

Ebru Yildiz

Joan Shelley transforms a variety of folk and country songs on Rivers and Vessels

by Peter Margasak | Apr 20, 2018

Andrew Cohen

Chicago rockers Peel breathe new life into old sounds on Never Not Dead

by Leor Galil | Apr 20, 2018

Courtesy The Artists

Clarinetist Ben Goldberg and keyboardist Michael Coleman bring new perspectives to work by experimental jazz composer Steve Lacy

by Peter Margasak | Apr 20, 2018

Sarah Morris

Jaden Smith effortlessly covers the hip-hop spectrum on his debut album, Syre

by Luca Cimarusti | Apr 20, 2018

Deacon Jones cofounded the legendary Baby Huey & the Babysitters—and that was just for starters

by Steve Krakow | Apr 25, 2018

Shawn Wiseman/rock All Photography

Thirty years is a long time to live with a Thrill Kill Kult

Plus: White Mystery keep on celebrating their first decade, the All Smiles hip-hop showcase reaches its sixth birthday, and more.

by J.R. Nelson | Apr 25, 2018

Print Issue of April 26, 2018

Volume 47, Number 29

| Apr 26, 2018

Investing in peace: I Grow Chicago celebrates four years of helping residents heal in Englewood

by Evan F. Moore | Apr 27, 2018