Switch to the mobile version of this page.

- Username
- View Profile
- Edit Profile
- Log Out
- Log in
- Create Account

The Chicago Reader

Articles

Loading...

Music, Music Feature Dec 22, 2020
Showcasing gig posters in a year short on gigs

The Reader got creative to find ways to keep uplifting Chicago artists in 2020.
- By Salem Collo-Julin
- Tags: Music Feature, Year in Review 2020, gig poster, music venue, COVID-19, fundraiser, flyer, concert, B Side, Gig Poster of the Week, Luca Cimarusti, Kevin Warwick, Nicole Marroquin, DeBarge, fantasy gig poster, Eric J. Garcia, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, Casa Aztlán, Andrea Hill Fitzgerald, Prince, Avalon Regal, Heather Anderson, CocoRosie, Empty Bottle, Tesh Silver, George Floyd, Big Floyd, DJ Screw, Dave “Medusa” Shelton, Rob Schwager, Meatmen, Medusa’s, John Vernon Forbes, Ralph Graham

Music, Gig Poster of the Week Apr 22, 2020
His Royal Bikeness on the gig poster of the week

This week’s featured gig poster was created by Chicago artist and educator Andrea Hill Fitzgerald.
- By Salem Collo-Julin
- Tags: Gig Poster of the Week, Andrea Hill Fitzgerald, Avalon, Avalon Regal Theater, bicycles, Chicago weather, concert flyer, concert poster, concerts, coronavirus, COVID-19, essential workers, fantasy gigs, Father Pfleger, gig poster, gig poster of the week, gig posters, Michael Pfleger, New Regal Theater, Paisley Park, Prince, Prince & the Revolution, Saint Sabina, snow in April

Music, Music Feature Nov 20, 2019
Slideshow Video
Life was just a party: Prince’s 1999 and Chicago house music

The Purple One could hardly have avoided influencing a genre whose earliest, most ardent fans were queer Black and Brown kids.
- By Jack Riedy
- Tags: Music Feature, Prince, 1999, house music, house, reissue, influence, Warner Brothers, Felix da Housecat, We All Wanna Be Prince, the Revolution, Purple Rain, For You, WDAI, disco, Herb Kent, Punk Out, WXFM, Jesse Saunders, On and On, Soft and Wet, Sexy Dancer, Vince Lawrence, I Wanna Be Your Lover, Jack Your Body, Dirty Mind, Steve “Silk” Hurley, Farley “Jackmaster” Funk, Melvin Oliphant III, Traxx, Do Me, Baby, Let’s Pretend We’re Married, Head, Harold “Big Ed” Matthews, Paisley Park, Jamie Principle, Your Love, Frankie Knuckles, Adrienne Jett, Byron Walford, Jamie Starr, Warehouse, Muzic Box, Jermaine Stewart, The Word Is Out, queer, Controversy, Linn LM-1 Drum Computer, LinnDrum, Mattel Synsonics, Funk You Up, Love Can’t Turn Around, Real Love, It’s About House (Off Beat Acid Mix), Trax Records, J.R.’s House Co., Let’s Go Crazy, Cat Glover, The Black Album, Jimmy Jam, Terry Lewis, Oberheim OB-8, Dance Music Sex Romance, Per Nilsen, Lovesexy, J.M. Silk, Music Is the Key, Cindy C., Gett Off, Z Factor, Uptown Theatre, Park West, My Name Is Prince, The Future, Do Your Dance, Slideshow, Video

Film, Movie Tuesday Aug 6, 2019
Video
Movie Tuesday: Movies directed by and/or starring musicians

Five films with turns in front of and behind the camera by Frank Zappa, Prince, Diana Ross, and more.
- By Ben Sachs
- Tags: Movie Tuesday, Serge Gainsbourg, Jacques Tourneur, Frank Zappa, Diana Ross, Berry Gordy, Prince, Wai Ka-fai, Johnnie To, Video

Music, In Rotation Feb 12, 2019
Video
Hip-hop duo Glitter Moneyyy on a rapper who’s demanding respect, not asking for it

Plus: Slumpgang777 rapper Vagabond Maurice on a UK neosoul wunderkind, Reader digital managing editor Karen Hawkins on the album that almost redeemed Under the Cherry Moon, and more
- By Karen Hawkins
- Tags: In Rotation, Erykah Badu, Aragon, Prince, Parade, Under the Cherry Moon, Flopcorn, Parade: Music From the Motion Picture Under the Cherry Moon, Maybe God Is Tryin’ to Tell You Somethin’, The Color Purple, Quincy Jones, Glitter Moneyyy, TayyySlayyy, Queen Trashley, Quay Dash, U.A.F.W.M., Tasha, Kind of Love, Perfume Genius, Queen, No Shape, Vagabond Maurice, Uyama Hiroto, Najubes, Samurai Champloo, Freeform Jazz, Mahalia, Colors, Black Thought, Roots, Tariq Trotter, Funk Flex, freestyle, Video

Film, Flopcorn Jan 22, 2019
Not even the soundtrack can save Under the Cherry Moon

When Prince was not so charming.
- By Karen Hawkins
- Tags: Flopcorn, Prince, Under the Cherry Moon, Purple Rain, Sign 'o' the Times, Kristin Scott Thomas, Jerome Benton, Evergreen Plaza, Labyrinth

Music, The Secret History of Chicago Music Aug 28, 2018
Video
Chicago producer Larry Sturm worked with Steve ‘Silk’ Hurley and Naked Raygun—just for starters

His influential career took him from house and punk to gigs for the likes of Prince, Destiny's Child, and Michael Jackson.
- By Steve Krakow
- Tags: The Secret History of Chicago Music, Larry Sturm, producer, engineer, mixer, remixer, remix, Bloomingdale, Berklee, Chicago Trax, Chicago Recording Company, Hedden West, Steve "Silk" Hurley, house music, Nile Rodgers, Chic, Naked Raygun, Jettison, Understand?, Tanglewood Recording, Brookfield, Prince, New Power Generation, Gett Off, Short Dick Man, 20 Fingers, Gillette, Short Short Man, Carlos Rosario, Manfred Mohr, Charlie Babie, Manny Mohr, Jericho Recording, Michael Jackson, Paula Abdul, Maurice Joshua, CeCe Peniston, Jamie Principle, Destiny’s Child, Bills Bills Bills, Say My Name, R. Kelly, Battery Studios, Pressure Point Studios, Twista, Video

Music, Music Feature May 2, 2018
Oldest black-owned nightclub in city faces uncertain future

For decades, Taste has been a required stop for black Chicagoans and visiting luminaries, including Harold Washington, Muhammad Ali, and Rick James.
- By Dave Hoekstra
- Tags: Music Feature, Taste Entertainment Center, Taste nightclub, Englewood, Muhammad Ali, Prince, the Isley Brothers, Purple Rain, Rick James, Lawrence Simmons, Donald Simmons, Marie Simmons, Gloria Simmons, the Taste Kittens, Farley “Jackmaster” Funk, Tom Joyn

Arts & Culture, Summer Guide May 31, 2017
Get the f*ck outta here: The Road Trips Issue 2017

A pilgrimage to Prince's Minneapolis, a quest for enlightenment in "Silicorn Valley," a freight-hopping-free trip to the Hobo Capital of America, and more stories of midwest exploration
- By Reader staff
- Tags: Summer Guide, road trips, midwest travel, Prince, Fairfield, Iowa, bike trip, train travel, Amtrak, South Shore Line, Frank Lloyd Wright, SC Johnson, Ann Arbor, Syrian cuisine, Britt, Iowa, Hobo Capital of America, hobo, Hobo Days, Exotic Bakeries & Syrian Cuisine, Paisley Park, Minnesota, Minneapolis

Music, Summer Guide May 31, 2017
Prince’s death has given rise to a ghoulish new tourism business in Minnesota

The late artist’s purple reign continues in and around Minneapolis.
- By Steve Marsh
- Tags: Summer Guide, Prince, Minneapolis, Minnesota, First Avenue, Purple Rain, Chanhassen, Camino de Santiago de Compostela, Muslims, Explore Minnesota, Erica Wacker, City of Lakes, New Power Generation, the Revolution, Catholic, Graceland Holdings, Memphis, Elvis, Saint Paul, Musicology, urn, Paisley Park, Jehovah's Witnesses

Blogs, Bleader Dec 23, 2016
Rahm Emanuel releases several years’ worth of e-mails, and other Chicago news

Also, outgoing Republican senator Mark Kirk laments the lost of the moderate establishment in the age of Trump.
- By Kate Shepherd
- Tags: News, Did You Read __________?, Rahm Emanuel, Bruce Rauner, Better Government Association, government transparency, gang violence, gun violence, gangs, Mark Kirk, Republican Party, Chicago, Donald Trump, Tammy Duckworth, Aaron Schock, Peoria, Mavis Staples, Prince, Kennedy Center Honors, soul music, gospel music

City Life, Space Dec 22, 2016
Video
This Prince-themed Christmas lights display will help you get through this thing called life

A Tudor-style house in Park Ridge is a seasonal spectacle dedicated to the late, great Purple One.
- By Laura Pearson
- Tags: Space, Prince, Christmas lights, Ron Duszak, Events Done Bright, Tom Grusecki, Tina Grusecki, Video

Blogs, Bleader Dec 5, 2016
Stevie Nicks reaches into her ‘dark gothic trunk of magical, mysterious things’

The iconic Fleetwood Mac front woman, clad in a series of shawls and capes, put a fresh spin on her stage show.
- By Laura Pearson
- Tags: Music, Stevie Nicks, 24 Karat Gold Tour, United Center, Fleetwood Mac, Chrissie Hynde, the Pretenders, Tom Petty, Prince, Edge of Seventeen, Waddy Wachtel, Bella Donna, Landslide, Gypsy, Gold Dust Woman, Stand Back, Twilight, Gold and Braid

Arts & Culture, Feature Nov 16, 2016
What we learned at the Chicago Humanities Festival

There was a ton of valuable information, but it was received in advance of a bleak future.
- Tags: Feature, Chicago Humanities Festival 2016, Grant Faulkner, National Novel Writing Month, NaNoWriMo, Ballet in Conversation, Christopher Wheeldon, Christopher Wheeldon, Joffrey Ballet, The Nutcracker, Brian Selznick, Dorrance Dance, ETM Double Down, sleep, speed, Benjamin Reiss, Wild Nights: How Taming Sleep Created Our Restless World, Frederick Douglass, Helmut Jahn, Donald Trump, Thompson Center, Governor Bruce Rauner, David Bowie, Prince, We Can Be Heroes, Rob Lindley, Bethany Thomas, Lindy West, Jessica Valenti, Sam Irby, Britt Julious, Hillary Clinton

Blogs, Bleader Aug 22, 2016
Chicago Dancing Festival, Purple Rain, and more things to do in Chicago this week

Unelectable You, Chicago Dancing Festival, and more happenings from August 22-25.
- By Anna Waters
- Tags: Arts, Do This, Olympics, Jonathan Biss, Ravinia, Prince, Purple Rain, Chicago Dancing Festival, Millennium Park, Great Love Debate, Chicago Turkish Festival, John Jodzio, Unelectable You, Second City, Slate

Blogs, Bleader Jun 27, 2016
A Prince and Bowie Tribute, The SpongeBob Musical, and more things to do this week in Chicago

Isaac Oliver, Cash Levy, and more happenings from June 27-30
- By Marc Daalder
- Tags: Arts, Do This, ronit bezalel, david bowie, prince, tribute, rock, pop, jazz, dada, cabrini green, steppenwolf theatre, steppenwolf, isaac oliver, intimacy idiot, cash levy, comedy central, zanies comedy club, empty bottle, mannequin pussy, ron gallo, lifestyles, spongebob musical, schubas, art institute of chicago, the national, a lot of sorrow, ragnar kjartansson, jaap block, fred lonberg-holm, tim daisy, elastic, zanies, image

Blogs, Bleader Jun 2, 2016
Sketch show The Program offers computer-generated laughs

The iO show was written with a predictive text program created by Clickhole head writer Jamie Brew.
- By Brianna Wellen
- Tags: Arts, Comedy, Do This, The Program, iO theater, sketch, Anthony Bourdain, Jamie Brew, Romeo and Juliet, Prince, Hal, X-Files, Craigslist

Music, In Rotation May 10, 2016
Video
Laura Callier of Gel Set on her sideways tribute to Prince

Plus: Hideout talent buyer Sullivan Davis on a surprise from a new favorite label, the Reader’s Kevin Warwick on a hardcore band that’s very disappointed in you, and more
- By Kevin Warwick
- Tags: In Rotation, Nails, You Will Never Be One of Us, Nuclear Blast, Horse Lords, Interventions, Baltimore, Toward the Omega Point, Savages, Metro, Jehnny Beth, I Am Here, Sullivan Davis, Hideout, Rex, Low, Codeine, Tindersticks, Scott Tuma, Earring, Kara-Lis Coverdale, LXV, Sirens, Nadia Reid, Listen to Formation Look for the Signs, Scissor Tail, Laura Callier, Gel Set, Simulation, God Vol 1, Gqom Oh!, The Sound of Durban, Selena Gomez, Hands to Myself, Max Martin, Prince, The Song Machine Inside the Hit Factory, John Seabrook, Gone Girl, soundtrack, Trent Reznor, Hard Copy, Video

Blogs, Bleader Apr 26, 2016
A Prince tribute mural has appeared over Logan Square

A mural of the Purple One, visible from the Blue Line, has gone up above Logan Square shop X-it European Clothing.
- By Leor Galil
- Tags: Music, RIP, Prince, Logan Square, Purple Rain, J.R. Nelson, Jon Kirby, Jake Austen, Frankie Knuckles, Phife Dawg, Sunshine Tucker

Music, Gossip Wolf Apr 26, 2016
Sound man Che Arthur celebrates Prince—and his own birthday—onstage with Bob Mould

Plus: Chicago Singles Club throws a free show for its third anniversary, and the Funs host a fund-raiser to repair their downstate home.
- By J.R. Nelson and Leor Galil
- Tags: Gossip Wolf, Che Arthur, Pink Avalanche, Empty Bottle, Bob Mould, First Avenue, Suicide Commandos, When You Were Mine, Prince, Chicago Singles Club, Cole’s, Grandkids, Oshwa, Gold Web, Runnies, Funs, Jessee Rose Crane, Philip Jerome Lesicko, New Douglas, Rose Raft, Relevant Hairstyles, Lala Lala, Hecks, Swear Beam

Blogs, Bleader Apr 22, 2016
Prince used to obsessively watch the 90s Chicago Bulls—even while performing onstage

A TV at the side of the stage would carry Bulls games.
- By Jake Malooley
- Tags: Sports, News, Chicago Bulls, Prince, Chappelle's Show, Notorious magazine, Timberwolves, Twins, Vikings, NFL, Purple and Gold, Minneapolis Sound

Blogs, Bleader Apr 22, 2016
A Prince fan club member on the Purple One's most memorable Chicago moments

A private Prince sound check at the Chicago Theatre and more highlights from Prince's 48 Chicago appearances
- By Jake Austen
- Tags: Music, Prince, Maceo Parker, Jehovah's Witness, United Center, Billy Sparks, Purple Rain, Chicago Theatre, Rosemont Horizon, Jake Austen

Blogs, Bleader Apr 22, 2016
Video
Twista digs up a Kanye-produced mixtape track in tribute to Prince

This morning west-side rap veteran Twista uploaded "I Can Make You Say," which samples Prince's "Do Me, Baby."
- By Leor Galil
- Tags: Hip-Hop, Music, Twista, I Can Make You Say, Prince, Kanye West, Do Me Baby, Controversy, DJ MoonDawg, WGCI, Tupac, To Live & Die in L.A., hip-hop, Chicago hip-hop, The Calm Before the Storm, Category F5, Video

Blogs, Bleader Apr 22, 2016
Prince could go anywhere he wanted—and he took us with him

The Purple One could make sheer perfection feel possible for anyone—even a ten-year-old white kid from Crystal Lake.
- By J.R. Nelson
- Tags: Music, RIP, Prince, Prince Rogers Nelson, Metro, Take Me With U, Purple Rain, the Revolution, the New Power Generation, Sign O the Times, 1999, Controversy, Computer Blue, Darling Nikki, Vanity, Dirty Mind, Around the World in a Day, Parade, Camille

Blogs, Bleader Apr 22, 2016
Prince's lasting impact on Chicago, and other news

Also, at least 1,000 people have been shot in Chicago in 2016.
- By Kate Shepherd
- Tags: News, Did You Read __________?, spring weather, Prince, City Winery, music, gun violence, Altgeld Gardens, River North, Marques Gaines, Sheryl Swoopes, WNBA, Loyola University Chicago, Ron Magers, television news, ABC7 Chicago, Carol Marin

1 2 next »

Issue Cover

Browse by Issue

Other Searches