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The Chicago Reader

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Arts & Culture, Valentine's Day Feb 12, 2020
Beyond the heartbreak hotel

Four places where relationships sunk
- By Salem Collo-Julin
- Tags: Valentine's Day, breakup spots, Lincoln Park Zoo, The Replacements, Taste of Chicago, Wicker Park, Nelson Algren, The Weiner's Circle

Blogs, Bleader Jun 13, 2018
Can a Division Street cocktail bar truly capture the spirit of Nelson Algren?

The Neon Wilderness will try, but the phrase "Algren-inspired bar" makes Algren scholar Bill Savage groan.
- By Bill Savage
- Tags: Arts, Books, Booze, Food & Drink, Nelson Algren, Neon Wilderness, Bar Deville, Division Street, The Man With the Golden Arm, Tug & Maul, Antek Witwicki, Mike Royko, tavern, shot-and-a-beer-bar

Blogs, Bleader Mar 27, 2017
New Algren bio slanders my poker table

I bought the table from Algren in 1976, and stories about the deal have taken on a life of their own.
- By Michael Miner
- Tags: Lit & Lectures, Media, News, Nelson Algren, Nelson Algren's poker table, Bettina Drew, Mary Wisniewski, "Nelson Algren a Life on the Wild Side, " "Algren: A Life, " Denise DeClue, "City on the Make"

Blogs, Bleader Mar 23, 2017
Remembering underground comics artists Jay Lynch and Skip Williamson

Jane Shay Wald, Lynch's ex-wife, remembers the wild 60s with her former husband, his partner in comics, and their influence on the medium.
- By Michael Miner
- Tags: Media, News, Visual Art, History, Jay Lynch, Skip Williamson, Jane Lynch, Jane Shay Wald, Art Spiegelman, Nelson Algren, Simone de Beauvoir, Eliot Wald, Art Shay, Harvey Kurtzman, Mad magazine, R. Crumb, Hugh Hefner, Playboy Mansion, comics, art

Best of Chicago, Introduction Jun 23, 2016
Best of Chicago 2016

The 31 reasons to love Chicago right now—plus, everything from the city's best pizza to the best person to follow on Twitter
- Tags: Introduction, Best of Chicago, 2016, rats, drunken tattoos, Nelson Algren, City on the Make, bathroom graffiti, cheap seats, White Sox, James R. Thompson Center, North Shore, Chicago Bulls, Logan Square, Tastee-Freez, The Freez, Mold-A-Rama, hotel lobbies, alleys, el station, CTA, theater, Jake Malooley

Arts & Culture, Lit Feature Apr 16, 2015
What is the Greatest Ever Chicago Book?

Studs Terkel's Working takes on Isabel Wilkerson's The Warmth of Other Suns in the Reader tournament's championship bout.
- Tags: Lit Feature, Greatest Ever Chicago Book, Studs Terkel, Working book, Isabel Wilkerson, The Warmth of Other Suns, Nelson Algren, Chicago: City on the Make, Sandra Cisneros, The House on Mango Street

Blogs, Bleader Mar 2, 2015
The Warmth of Other Suns vs. Chicago: City on the Make: Greatest Chicago Book tournament, final four

Which of these two titles will advance to the final round?
- By Tal Rosenberg
- Tags: Greatest Chicago Book, Books, Arts, Warmth of Other Suns, Chicago: City on the Make, Isabel Wilkerson, Nelson Algren, Ida Mae Gladney, Robert Pershing Foster, Mara Shalhoup, Jake Austen, Studs Terkel, creative nonfiction, prose poem, great migration, segregation, racism

Arts & Culture, Art Feature Jan 29, 2015
Slideshow
Art Shay: The man with the golden lens

He was one of the mid-20th century's most prolific photographers. Now, at 92, Shay's getting the vast archive that fills his home in order, and he's finally receiving the appreciation from the art world he's long deserved.
- By Aimee Levitt
- Tags: Art Feature, Art Shay, Florence Shay, Erica DeGlopper, Erik Gellman, Jack Davidson, Album for an Age, photography, Roosevelt University, Ken Hanson, Art Shay: His Life and Love, Highland Park Art Center, My Florence, Life magazine, Nelson Algren, Ann Nathan, Jack Davidson, Slideshow

Blogs, Bleader Jan 26, 2015
Chicago: City on the Make vs. Boss: Greatest Chicago Book Tournament, round two

One of these literary heavyweights will have to defeat the other . . . by a nose.
- By Jerome Ludwig
- Tags: Greatest Chicago Book, Books, Arts, Mike Royko, Nelson Algren, Boss, Chicago: City on the Make, Richard J. Daley, Simone DeBeauvoir

Arts & Culture, Theater Review Jan 21, 2015
Recommended
At Rhinofest, theater nobody sent for is a good thing

A weekend at Curious Theatre Branch's long-running fringe festival turns up both old favorites and potent new investigations.
- By Tony Adler
- Tags: Theater Review, Rhinofest, Prop Thtr, Curious Theatre Branch, Jenny Magnus, Beau O'Reilly, Lena Luna Magnus Brün, Jerry Garcia, To Relax and Laugh, Jen Moniz, KellyAnn Corcoran, Carolyn Hoerdemann, J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan, Laurel Cohen, Niki Dee, Kathi Kaity, Greg Allen, Neo-Futurist, Ira S. Murfin, Our Theatrical Future: A Talk Between Hong Kong & Chicago (Re-PerformedToo Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind, Aaron Kahn, Our Theatrical Future, Welcome to Beautown, The Beautown Monologues, John Fante, Nelson Algren, Matt Test, Julie Cowden, A Week Later, 1989, Antitheatrical Prejudice, The Beautiful World of Princess Broccoli, Paradise Los, Lollipop Polly, Zelma O'Reilly, Recommended

Blogs, Bleader Dec 8, 2014
Devil in the White City vs. Chicago: City on the Make: Greatest Ever Chicago Book Tournament round one

Northwestern professor Bill Savage gives hell to Devil in the White City.
- By Bill Savage
- Tags: Greatest Chicago Book, Books, Arts, greatest ever chicago book, bill savage, northwestern, devil in the white city, Chicago: city on the make, nelson algren, erik larson, h.h. holmes

Arts & Culture, Theater Review Sep 17, 2014
Recommended
With The Midnight City, Tony Fitzpatrick bids Chicago farewell

An elegiac final show puts an end to a four-part series.
- By Zac Thompson
- Tags: Theater Review, Steppenwolf Theatre, Merle Reskin Garage Theatre, The Midnight City, Tony Fitzpatrick, This Train, New Orleans, Chicago Blackhawks, Nelson Algren, Studs Terkel, Mike Royko, Lou Reed, Stan Klein, Anna Fermin, John Rice, Kristen Reeves, Recommended

Arts & Culture, Lit Feature May 6, 2014
Recommended
Our guide to Let's Get Working, a tribute to Studs Terkel

The U. of C. pays tribute to Studs Terkel with a weekend-long festival of readings, screenings, and appearances by Ira Glass and other notables.
- By Taylor Tolbert
- Tags: Lit Sidebar, Studs Terkel, Let's Get Working, University of Chicago, Ira Glass, Rick Kogan, Andre Schiffrin, WFMT, StoryCorps, Old Town School of Folk Music, Mark Dvorak, It's a Living, Book and Information Fair, South Side Weekly, Street-Level Youth Media, Voice of Witness, Media Burn Archive, Best of Studs 1946-2008, Nelson Algren, Bill Veeck, Soapbox Debates, Washington Park, Bughouse Square, Craft Talk, Dave Hoekstra, Mary Schmich, Anthology of Chicago, 1,001 Chicago Afternoons, Reinventing the Radio: An Evening with Ira Glass, This American Life, Pocket Guide to Hell, Bill Savage, Thomas Dyja, Justin Amolsch, Hideout, Univ. of Chicago Logan Center for the Arts, Recommended

Blogs, Bleader Mar 29, 2014
Reader's Agenda Sat 3/29: Nelson Algren, Rare Soul Weekender, and Malachi Ritscher

What's on the Reader's Agenda for Saturday, March 29
- By Drew Hunt
- Tags: Do This, Arts, Nelson Algren, Nelson Algren Committee, Bloomingdale Arts Building, Nate Herman, Mary Wisniewski, Dennis Mueller, Mark Blottner, Tom Palazzolo, Rare Soul Weekender, Empty Bottle, Globe Pub, Archiving & Amplifying Chicago's Experimental Creativity, Malachi Ritscher, Creative Audio Archive at Experimental Sound Studio, Peter Margasak

Arts & Culture, Feature Oct 2, 2013
The migration of the hipster

A Chicago history, 1898-present
- By Aimee Levitt
- Tags: Feature, hipsters, Flat Iron Building, Bridgeport, neighborhoods, New York Times, next Seattle, Richard Lloyd, Jeff Huebner, history, Real World, Ed Marszewski, Lumpen Times, Liz Phair, Urge Overkill, Veruca Salt, Smashing Pumpkins, Tom Handley, Joe Judd, Shane Bugbee, Elliot Dicks, gentrification, Clem Jaskot Jr., Phyllis' Musical Inn, bars, Gold Star Bar, Nelson Algren, Wicker Park, HotHouse, Double Door, Pontiac, Subterranean, Flat Iron Building, Myopic Books, Quimby's Bookstore, Autonomous Zone Infoshop, Buys Bee, Earwax Cafe, Urbus Orbis, commercialization, bohemia, brohemia, Sarah Crawford, Fine Arts Building, artists' colonies, coffeehouses, nightclubs, The Little Room, South Loop, artists, tea, Auditorium Hotel, Ralph Clarkson, Henry Blake Fuller, George Ade, Hamlin Garland, Lorado Taft, Jane Addams, Bertha Palmer, Jackson Park, Hyde Park, Midway Studios, Floyd Dell, Evening Post, Evening Post's Friday Literary Review, Paul Durica, Margery Currey, salons, Sherwood Anderson, Edgar Lee Masters, Carl Sandburg, Ben Hecht, Margaret Anderson, The Little Review, Richard Lloyd, Chicago winters, Towertown, Bauhaus, Bauhaus School, River North, Maxwell Bodenheim, them restaurants, Gold Coast House of Correction, Big John's Coal Scuttle, Jake Loeb, Thomas Dyja, Tree Studios, Prohibition, tearooms, Green Mask, Ballyhoo Cafe, drag shows, Dil Pickle Club, Washington Square Park, Newberry Library, Bughouse Square, Jack Jones, Tooker Place, Mae West, Ben Reitman, Chicago Tribune, alcohol, Charles Collins, Mitchell Dawson, Harriet Monroe, Clarence Darrow, Emma Goldman, Theodore Dreiser, Ring Lardner, Edgar Lee Masters, Joseph Weil, Bill Haywood, Jack Johnson, Chicago Literary Times, Michigan Avenue Bridge, douchebags, yuppies, bros, Alfreda Gordon, Chicago Sunday Times, development, beatniks, hippies, New Yorker, Emily Hahn, Slim Brundage, College of Complexes, Piper's Alley, Lincoln Restaurant, Maury's, Cholly Wendorf, Bill Smith, Steve Goodman, John Prine, Bonnie Koloc, Hairy Who, Will Leonard, University of Chicago, Old Town School of Folk Music, Bill Savage, Northwestern University, Frank Ryan, Norman Mailer, Dee Paira, Gavin Morrison, Rainbo Club, Logan Square, Jason Hammel, Logan Beach, Lula Cafe, Amalea Tshilds, Joe Bryl, Longman & Eagle, Reno, Bang Bang Pie, Parsons Chicken & Fish, Cozy Corner, Cole's Bar, Helen's, Two-Way Lounge, Whirlaway Lounge, The Whistler, Scofflaw, Weegee's Lounge, Logan Square Farmers Market, Dill Pickle Co-Op, Cafe Mustache, New Wave Coffee, Abraham Conlon, Adrienne Lo, Matthias Merges, Jared Wentworth, Paul McGee, Maria Jaimes, Fireside Bowl, The Mutiny, John McDermott, Logan Square Neighborhood Association, Latinos, buying property, Bridgeport, Pilsen, Jason Vincent, Bruce Finkelman, Thalia Hall, Modern Cooperative, furniture stores, Nightwood, Co-Prosperity Sphere, public transportation, mass transit, Version Fest, Mash-Tun Festival

Blogs, Bleader Aug 9, 2013
Assembling a picture of Chicago, neighborhood by neighborhood

Two local bloggers have organized a reading celebrating Chicago's neighborhoods.
- By Aimee Levitt
- Tags: Books, Arts, Neighborhoods, Chi Lit: Tales of the Neighborhoods, Rachel Hyman, Paul Dailing, Anthology of Chicago, 1001 Chicago Afternoons, Ben Hecht, 1001 Afternoons in Chicago, Chicago Daily News, Cole's Bar, Nelson Algren, Bill Savage, Paul Dunica, Shannon Cason, Molly Meacham, Robert Loerzel, Streeterville, Bucktown

Blogs, Bleader Jul 16, 2013
The Third Coast—turning a bunch of stuff that happened into drama

Thomas Dyja's history of Chicago finds the story line in 30 years of city life.
- By Michael Miner
- Tags: Books, Arts, Media, News, Chicago, Thomas Dyja, The Third Coast, Mies van der Rohe, Henry Darger, Mahalia Jackson, Paul Sills, Burr Tillstrom, Emmett Till, Claudia Cassidy, Julian Levi, Albert Cardinal Mayer, Rachel Shteir, Nelson Algren, Louis Sullivan, Richard J. Daley, Saul Bellow, Ray Kroch, Hugh Hefner, Robert Hutchins, Mortimer Adler, Gwendolyn Brooks, the Mecca, Crown Hall, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chess Records, Leonard and Phil Chess, Muddy Waters, Little Walter, Harry Callahan

Columns & Opinion, On Media May 1, 2013
Rick Kogan might be sentimental—just don't call him a sentimentalist

The storied Tribune columnist gets a "mea culpa" from Trib theater critic Chris Jones.
- By Michael Miner
- Tags: Michael Miner on Media, Chicago Tribune, New York Time, Chicago Sun-Times, Rachel Shteir, Chris Jones, Rick Kogan, Nelson Algren, Studs Terkel, Roger Ebert, writers, writing, Neil Steinberg, radio, WGN, sentimentalism, WFMT, books, Chicago Daily News, Panorama, Marcel Marceau, Mort Sahl, Dawn Turner Trice, Studs Terkel Media Award, media, Sam Zell, Billy Goat Tavern, Tempo, Brendan Behan, Bruce Elliott, Old Town Ale House, Herman Kogan, Marilew Kogan, AA, WBEZ, Chicago Theatre

Blogs, Bleader Feb 21, 2013
Eating and schvitzing at the reborn Division Street Russian Baths

The Russian banya is back.
- By Mike Sula
- Tags: Food Chain, Food & Drink, Division Street Baths, Red Square, Red Square Lounge, Saul Bellow, Nelson Algren, banya, schvits, Neil Steinberg, Saul Bellow, Nelson Algren, Russian food

Blogs, Bleader Nov 18, 2012
The romance of books: the Newberry Library at 125

A special exhibit displays some of the exquisite items in the Newberry's vast collection, on the occasion of the library's 125th anniversary
- By Jerome Ludwig
- Tags: Books, Do This, Arts, Newberry Library, University of Chicago Press, Kelly McGrath, Walter Newberry, Bughouse Square, Nelson Algren, Man With the Golden Arm, Jack Kerouac, Malcolm Cowley, Montaigne, Shakespeare, first folio, Herman Melville, Moby-Dick, Dill Pickle Club, baseball cards, American Tobacco Company, Jay Ryan, Bird Machine

Blogs, Bleader Oct 23, 2012
You Were Never in Chicago: Neil Steinberg comes of age

Neil Steinberg writes a memoir
- By Michael Miner
- Tags: Books, Arts, Media, News, Neil Steinberg, "You Were Never in Chicago, " Saul Bellow, Nelson Algren, Studs Terkel, Chicago Sun-Times, Sam Steinberg, Gloria Majewski, Maria Pappas, David Radler, Lisa Madigan, BobWatch, A.J. Liebling

Blogs, Bleader Jun 7, 2012
Remembering Studs Terkel at the Nightingale

Noting the ongoing revivals of Studs Terkel-related documentaries
- By Ben Sachs
- Tags: Do This, Film, Studs Terkel, Nightingale Theatre, Chicago Cultural Center, Nelson Algren

News & Politics, Chicago Reader at Forty Oct 6, 2011
2009

The year in Chicago history via the pages of the Reader
- By Michael Miner
- Tags: Chicago Reader at Forty, parking meters, privitization, Morgan Stanley, Michael Jackson, Jackson Five, One-derful Records, Steeltown, journalism, print is dead, Nelson Algren, Entrapment, Cliff Doerksen

Arts & Culture, Culture Vultures Sep 15, 2011
Culture Vultures: Nelson Algren, Alfred Jarry, and antiquing

In-the-know Chicagoans tell the Reader what they're watching, reading, and seeing
- By Mark Bergen and Asher Klein
- Tags: Culture Vultures, Dmitry Samarov, Nelson Algren, Jacob C. Hammes, Ubu Roi, Laura Lippert, Antquies Roadshow

Best of Chicago, Arts & Culture Jun 23, 2011
Critics' Picks
Best book of love letters ever written to a Chicago writer

Beloved Chicago Man
- Tags: Arts & Culture, The Reader's picks, Beloved Chicago Man, Nelson Algren, Simone de Beauvoir, Critics' Picks

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