Quin Kirchner puts a contemporary spin on mid-20th-century jazz

Chicago Reader (Style) 8/2 7:00A Bill Meyer

Quin Kirchner blew into Chicago in 2005, after Hurricane Katrina devastated his old hometown of New Orleans. He wasted no time making himself essential as a drummer, and since then he’s played with a...

Yasser Tejeda brings the Afro-Dominican quijombo to the LatiNxt Festival

Chicago Reader (Style) 8/2 6:00A Catalina Maria Johnson

The Dominican Republic is famous for merengue and bachata, but Yasser Tejeda prefers to focus on lesser-known varieties of Dominican roots music. He reimagines centuries-old Afro-Dominican styles,...

The Green Knight shines when it embraces the strange

Chicago Reader (Style) 8/2 5:30A Colleen Morrissey

But stumbles when it tries to stay too true to its source. The Green Knight is at its best when it’s at its weirdest. A24, with its reputation for visual sumptuousness and bold, unsettling...

How to Spend $400 at Afore

Chicago Magazine 8/2 3:22A Lynette Smith

A new line of beauty products by Chicago-based doctor to the stars Julius Few may trick Father Time into thinking you’re 21 again.

Chicago indie workhorse Liam Kazar reaches for the sublime on his debut solo album

Chicago Reader (Style) 8/2 1:30A Leor Galil

Multi-instrumentalist Liam Kazar has been so crucial to my evolving understanding of Chicago’s bustling, magnanimous music scene that I felt a little heartbroken when he moved to Kansas City in 2019....

Chicago songwriter Emily Jane Powers supercharges Isometry with wild guitar work

Chicago Reader (Style) 8/2 1:00A Leor Galil

When local folk-pop artist Jessica Risker interviewed Chicago singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Emily Jane Powers on her Music Therapy podcast in April 2020, Powers was halfway through...

Fiesta del Sol, Free Street, and more

Chicago Reader (Style) 7/30 9:15A Kerry Reid

Upcoming events and recommendations for the next seven days Here’s a mix of online and in-person events and things to check out for the next seven days. Be good to yourself and others (because that's...

A tsunami of news and a new path for Actors' Equity membership

Chicago Reader (Style) 7/30 8:10A Kerry Reid

Changes in faces, places, and union rules might carry harbingers of a shifting landscape in Chicago theater. There's been a tsunami of theater news over the past couple of weeks. Steppenwolf named...

Five Peaceful Chicagoland Homes

Chicago Magazine 7/30 5:00A Whet Moser

Get an indoor pool in a swinging Brutalist house, a cabin with a horse barn by a forest preserve for under $500,000, or a midcentury modern woodland estate.

Lollapalooza 2021 Photos of the Stages & Crowds

Chicago Magazine 7/30 3:58A Lynette Smith

ICYMI, one of the world's largest music festivals is in Chicago this weekend. We’ll be at Lollapalooza all weekend long. You don't need to feel like you're missing out—check out the scene right here.

Ten favorites from the Cannes Film Festival 2021

Chicago Reader (Style) 7/29 8:25A Max Maller

This year’s selection included everything from a highly anticipated rock opera to compelling documentaries to an award-winning film featuring a character who lactates motor oil. It would be convenient...

Book It

Chicago Reader (Style) 7/29 7:08A Salem Collo-Julin

New books from Chicago authors and publishers A list of new and recently released books from Chicago authors or publishers, plus some books you might have missed when they first came out. MEMOIR…

Chicago’s Greatest Olympians

Chicago Magazine 7/29 3:16A Whet Moser

Tarzan, the inventor of the nylon bathing suit, a co-founder of the Congressional Black Caucus, and the first women's gold medalist in the 100 meter sprint are among the best athletes the city has ever produced.

Mourning Joe Cassidy of Butterfly Child

Chicago Reader (Style) 7/29 1:00A Steve Krakow

Irish dream-pop genius Joe Cassidy lived in Chicago for more than a decade and became a beloved part of our music scene. Since 2004 Plastic Crimewave (aka Steve Krakow) has used the Secret History of...

Torres writes big happy rock love songs for the end of lockdown

Chicago Reader (Style) 7/29 1:00A Noah Berlatsky

Brooklyn singer-songwriter Mackenzie Scott, aka Torres, is a master of insular, languid indie pop. But after making it through lockdown and finding inspiration in her partner, visual artist Jenna...