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The Chicago Reader

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Music, Music Feature Mar 30, 2021
Video
Lil Nas X embraces his role as queer hero

With the new video for “Montero (Call Me By Your Name),” he uses his giant platform to blow assimilationism out of the water.
- By Adam M. Rhodes
- Tags: Music Feature, Lil Nas X, Montero, video, Montero (Call Me By Your Name), Satan, Satan Shoes, queer, letter, Video

Music, Music Feature Jun 23, 2020
Video
Chicago punk was born queer

How three gay bars—La Mere Vipere, O’Banion’s, and Oz—became the cradle of the city’s punk scene
- By Leor Galil
- Tags: Music Feature, Chicago punk, punk, queer, gay, gay bars, La Mere Vipere, Oz, O’Banion’s, Terry Fox, Sex Pistols, Kenny Ellis, Ken Ellis, Ramones, 2132 N. Halsted, Anarchy at La Mere, Punk-o-Rama, Blondie, Jim Skafish, Skafish, Tutu & the Pirates, Effigies, Silver Abuse, Da, Hüsker Dü, D.O.A., Naked Raygun, B.B. Spin, Steve Maas, Mudd Club, La Mere Gabba Gabba Gazette, Gabba Gabba Gazette, Busted at Oz, Sasha Geffen, Glitter Up the Dark, Dem Hopkins, Noah Boudreau, Noe Boudreau, Tom Wroblewski, Snake Pit, Mike Rivers, Sparkle, John Morales, Taco, Dugan’s Bistro, Bearded Lady, Cheeks, Paradise, Marilyn’s, Sunday’s, Sounds Good Records, Richard Hell & the Voidoids, Greenleaf, Lend-a-Man, John Molini, Rick Faust, Gay Chicago News/Journal, Dick Nielsen, Mary Alice Ramel-Hoeksema, Rolling Stones Records, Jeanne Genie, Monica Lynch, Steve Miglio, Spin, Joe Shanahan, Metro, Smart Bar, Neo, Tuts, Elvis Costello & the Attractions, Michael Cegur, Beluga, Cary Baker, Bomp! magazine, Nancy Rapchak, Russell Clancy, Bill Meehan, Bob Bell, Ken Mierzwa, Gay Chicago Magazine, Wax Trax!, Everett Rogers, Poison Squirrel, Immune System, Clox, the Ranch, Strike Under, Earl Letiecq, Oil, Jane Byrne, Subverts, Minor Threat, Dead Kennedys, Greg Ginn, Black Flag, Minutemen, Mike Watt, New Alliance Records, D. Boon, Land Speed Record, Rather See None, Club Foot, Roseann Kuberski, Coolest Retard, I.R.S. Records, Tommy Boy, punk history, punk venues, Pride 2020, Video

Arts & Culture, Feature May 28, 2020
Growing up queer with The Sims

“Za Woka Genava” means “I think you are hot” in Simlish, and I think that’s beautiful.
- By S. Nicole Lane
- Tags: Feature, The Sims, LGBTQ, queer, gaming, virtual, Gwen Stefani, Gavin Rossdale, Xena

Music, Music Feature Dec 10, 2019
Video
Rapbrarian Roy Kinsey finds his voice in queer hip-hop

With his next album, he wants to make the music he wishes he’d heard as a young man.
- By Leor Galil
- Tags: Music Feature, Roy Kinsey, rapper, librarian, rapbrarian, Blackie: A Story by Roy Kinsey, Blackie, Kinsey: A Memoir, gay, queer, Futurehood, Not Normal Tapes, Not Normal Tapes & Records, Ralph Rivera, Banjee Report, RoyAl, DePaul University, AliveOne, Tonic Room, Keep the Receipt, Beautiful Only, Isabel Wilkerson, The Warmth of Other Suns, Helen Thompson, Great Migration, Steppenwolf, LookOut, Marcy-Newberry Association, Chicago Public Library, CPL, Wang’s, Boystown, Fetish, Nick Castle, DJ Castle, Doc Ill, Jack Hill, Push Beats, Rookie of the Year, Austin-Irving, Dominican University, Harold Washington Library, Lyricist Loft, Mike Jones, Mike Schpitz, Grumpy Old Men, For Colored Boys, Jungle Book, Phoelix, Red Black and Green, Ring Ring, Anthony Pabey, Aceb00mbap, Erik Wallace, Mister Wallace, Mykki Blanco, Cakes da Killa, BSAYF, Saya Naomi, Video

Film, Small Screen Dec 4, 2019
Video
Six degrees of Abby McEnany

How a network of local creatives brought a queer, authentically Chicago story to Showtime.
- By Marissa Oberlander
- Tags: Small Screen, Abby McEnany, Showtime, Work in Progress, iO Theater, Lilly Wachowski, Tim Mason, Karin Anglin, Theo Germaine, Julia Sweeney, queer, television, Video

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

Music, Music Feature Jul 25, 2019
Video
The most colorful parties in the city are Noire

Nick Alder and Rae Chardonnay Taylor of Party Noire get to fun by going through respect, safety, community, and empowerment.
- By Matt Harvey
- Tags: Music Feature, Party Noire, Nick Alder, Nickecia Alder, Rae Chardonnay Taylor, DJ Rae Chardonnay, Lauren Ash, Black, queer, LGBTQ+, Peach, Pound the Alarm (Ode to Carnival), Renaissance One, Pride, Black Eutopia, Black Girl Fly Mag, BbyMutha, TT the Artist, Kidd Kenn, Blu Bone, Hijo Pródigo, Professor Wrecks, Promontory, Black to the Future, Black Girl in Om, Red Bull, Boystown, New York City, Detroit, Miami, Karlie Thornton, Vel Brown, Janaya Greene, Video

News & Politics, Feature Jul 24, 2019
The burden of proof

How immigration court is especially challenging for LGBTQ asylum seekers
- By Justin Agrelo and 90 Days, 90 Voices
- Tags: Feature, immigration, asylum, lgbtq, border, migrants, trans, queer, mexico

Arts & Culture, Pride 2019 Jun 26, 2019
LGBTQ Glossary

From allosexual to zaza and zir, terms you won't find in your Funk & Wagnalls
- By S. Nicole Lane
- Tags: Pride 2019, LGBTQ, Glossary, Language, Words, Queer

Music, Music Feature Jun 25, 2019
Video
Baltimore rapper TT the Artist helps femmes celebrate themselves

She brings her high-energy set to the Black queer space of Renaissance One on Thursday.
- By Matt Harvey
- Tags: Music Feature, Music, Renaissance One, LGBTQ+, Pride, Red Bull, BbyMutha, TT the Artist, Kidd Kenn, Blu Bone, Party Noire, Rae Chardonnay, Hijo Pródigo, Professor-Wrecks, Club Queen Records, Baltimore club, queer, juke, hip-hop, rap, the Promontory, south side, Maryland Institute College of Art, Florida, Baltimore, K-Swift, Video

Music, Music Feature Jun 19, 2019
Video
How Homocore Chicago propped open the gate for queer punks

Today’s activist bookers face dramatically different hurdles, but Joanna Brown and Mark Freitas gave them all a running start with this 1990s concert series.
- By Micco Caporale
- Tags: Music Feature, Homocore, Homocore Chicago, Mark Freitas, Joanna Brown, Martin Sorrondeguy, Los Crudos, Limp Wrist, Fed Up Fest, Black and Brown Punk Show Collective, Black, Brown, and Indigenous Crew, Czar Bar, Fifth Column, Le Tigre, Bikini Kill, G.B. Jones, J.D.s, Bruce LaBruce, Preston Bradley Center, Pansy Division, Tribe 8, Lunachicks, God Is My Co-Pilot, Heterocide, Fireside Bowl, Empty Bottle, Autonomous Zone, Chris Kellner, Hook Torture, Defibrillator, Adele Bertei, Contortions, Lesley Woods, Au Pairs, Back Porch Video, Steve LaFreniere, SPEW, Team Dresch, Huggy Bear, Sleater-Kinney, Tobi Vail, Combating Latent Inequality Together Fest, CLIT Fest, Isabella Mancini, E. Ornelas, Sheer Queer, Mighty Hoopla, Whole Festival, Go West Fest, queer, Pride, LGBTQ+, Video

Music, Gossip Wolf Jun 11, 2019
Bodymilk Tapes invites a crowd of queer and trans musicians to Noise Prom II

Plus: The Chicago Humanities Festival hosts a discussion of Jim DeRogatis’s new R. Kelly book, and rapper Pete Sayke drops a guest-studded full-length album.
- By J.R. Nelson and Leor Galil
- Tags: Gossip Wolf, Bodymilk Tapes, Hedra Rowan, Ari Korotkin, Noise Prom II, 19th Century Girl, queer, trans, Dreamcrusher, Annacetaminophen, Middle School Crush, Natalie Braginsky, Vvermikulture, KC Ortiz, Abrams Books, Soulless, Soulless: The Case Against R. Kelly, R. Kelly, Jim DeRogatis, Chicago Humanities Festival, #MuteRKelly, Kyra Kyles, Kenyette Tisha Barnes, Oronike Odeleye, Chop Shop, Pete Sayke, Lonegevity, Heaven Can Wait, Gold & Rue, Roy Kinsey, Mike Jones, Mother Nature, Phoelix, JusSol

Arts & Culture, Theater Review Sep 27, 2018
The Artificial Jungle pays tribute to Charles Ludlam, the patron saint of queer comedy

The campy caper is such a throwback, it borders on family-friendly.
- By Dan Jakes
- Tags: Theater Review, The Artificial Jungle, Hell in a Handbag, Stage 773, Charles Ludlam, David Lipscutz, Sydney Genco, Ed Jones, Shade Murray, queer, comedy, Lanky Yankee Puppet Co., campy, Mary's Attic, camp

Music, Pitchfork Jul 17, 2018
Video
Pitchfork proves it: festivals that aren’t booking women aren’t trying

Lucy Dacus, Julien Baker, Nilüfer Yanya, and Ravyn Lenae demonstrate the depth of the young female talent pool.
- By Katie Powers
- Tags: Pitchfork, Pitchfork, Pitchfork Music Festival, 2018, 2018 Pitchfork Music Festival, Union Park, Lucy Dacus, Julien Baker, Nilüfer Yanya, Ravyn Lenae, Moon Shoes, Midnight Moonlight, Crush, Do You Like Pain?, Small Crimes, Historian, I Don’t Wanna Be Funny Anymore, No Burden, Sprained Ankle, Turn Out the Lights, women, queer, gender, representation, Video

Columns & Opinion, Savage Love May 30, 2018
‘Could my beautiful bottom boy be turning bi?’

What's up with a self-proclaimed gold-star gay's peculiar new interests? Plus: a relationship question that doesn't involve sex, and more.
- By Dan Savage
- Tags: Savage Love, Dan Savage, Savage Love, gold-star gay, lesbian porn, straight porn, MMF threesome, Fleshlight, biphobia, bi-curious, homo-flexible, courtesy, jack-off, hand job, masturbation, queer, poly, nonmonogamous, Maggie McNeill, sex workers, oral sex, blow jobs, the Nordic Model, SESTA, sex worker's rights

Columns & Opinion, Savage Love May 23, 2018
What to do when someone horns in on all the action at the orgy

Even if it’s the host. Plus: threesome success and lesbian special guests!
- By Dan Savage
- Tags: Savage Love, Dan Savage, Savage Love, water sports, piss party, golden shower, orgy, group sex, piss play, etiquette, threesome, MMF threesome, use your words, special guest star, cis, lesbian, bisexual, queer, sexual identity, bad lesbian

Blogs, Bleader May 18, 2018
The city's only black-owned gay bar, the Jeffery Pub, in photos

The south-side club's drag shows are spectacular, true, but this venerable club has much more to offer.
- By Sue Kwong
- Tags: LGBTQ+, Music, Chicago Reader Instagram, the Vixen, the Block Beat, the Triibe, drag, Chicago nightlife, Chicago pub, Jeffery Pub, LGBTQ+, queer

Blogs, Bleader Mar 23, 2018
Five gay films from an era when queer themes were invisible in Hollywood

Films by Hitchcock, Cukor, and Minnelli turn up on this list of classics from before the Stonewall era.
- By Patrick Friel
- Tags: Film, LGBTQ+, On Video, Hollywood, film, queer, gay, GLBT, Facets Cinémathèque, Basil Dearden, Victim, Nick Davis, Stonewall The Wild Party, Clara Bow, flappers, Joseph Moncure March, Fredric March, Dorothy Arzner, Paramount, Jonathan Rosenbaum, Sylvia Scarlett, George Cukor, Katharine Hepburn, Edmund Gwenn, Cary Grant, Brian Aherne, French New Wave, John Collier, Joseph August, Rope, Alfred Hitchcock, Patrick Hamilton, Farley Granger, John Dall, Rear Window, James Stewart, Joan Chandler, Cedric Hardwicke, Dave Kehr, Tea and Sympathy, Vincente Minnelli, CinemaScope, Robert Anderson, Hays Office, censorship, John Kerr, Deborah Kerr, The Cobweb, Home From the Hill, Some Came Running, Leif Erickson, Edward Andrews, Darryl Hickman, Reflections in a Golden Eye, John Huston, Chapman Mortimer, Gladys Hill, Carson McCullers, Marlon Brando, Elizabeth Taylor, Aldo Tonti, Julie Harris, Brian Keith

Music, Music Feature Feb 21, 2018
Video
The world catches up to iconoclastic composer Julius Eastman

He died homeless almost three decades ago, and his work was nearly lost. But classical music finally has room for a queer black voice in the minimalist pantheon.
- By Kerry O'Brien
- Tags: Music Feature, Julius Eastman, composer, minimalist, minimalism, Gay Guerrilla, Evil Nigger, Crazy Nigger, Prelude to the Holy Presence of Joan d’Arc, The Holy Presence of Joan d’Arc, Femenine, black, queer, gay, Frequency Festival, Seth Parker Woods, Peter Margasak, Preston Bradley Hall, Chicago Cultural Center, S.E.M. Ensemble, Petr Kotik, SUNY Buffalo, Mary Jane Leach, Unjust Malaise, Julius Eastman: That Which Is Fundamental, Bowerbird, Tiona Nekkia McClodden, Dustin Hurt, Renée Levine Packer, Clarice Jensen, Northwestern University, Peter Maxwell Davies, Eight Songs for a Mad King, John Cage, Song Books, Gay Guerrilla: Julius Eastman and His Music, Julius Eastman: The Zürich Concert, C. Bryan Rulon, Eightfold Path, New York Public Library, Performing Arts Research Center, Luciano Chessa, Meredith Monk, Arthur Russell, Joan of Arc, Gerry Eastman, Ithaca, Sacred Songs, The Four Books of Confucius, Buddha, One God, Our Father, Ryan Dohoney, June in Buffalo, Frederic Rzewski, Pauline Oliveros, Alvin Lucier, Carman Moore, Tania León, Curtis Institute of Music, Center of the Creative and Performing Arts, the Kitchen, Andrew Hanson-Dvoracek, Peter Gena, For Members Only, Video

Blogs, Bleader Jan 25, 2018
Video
With her new single, Lin-Z proves she’s one of the best emerging rappers in Chicago

On the new "Grown," queer rapper Lin-Z makes her peace with the physical and mental fatigue that comes with holding together an adult life.
- By Leor Galil
- Tags: Hip-Hop, Music, Lin-Z, Sprung, Grown, Awetumn, EP, queer, rap, Chicago hip-hop, Video

Music, Gossip Wolf Oct 31, 2017
Video
The Homocore Chicago series puts its legacy on exhibit for its 25th birthday

Plus: Kenny Childers of Gentleman Caller and author Maryse Meijer pair songs with readings from the stories that inspired them, and Smart Bar hosts 23 hours of continuous DJ sets.
- By J.R. Nelson and Leor Galil
- Tags: Gossip Wolf, Joanna Brown, Mark Freitas, Homocore Chicago, Defibrillator Gallery, 25th anniversary, Fifth Column, G.B. Jones, Bikini Kill, Le Tigre, Los Crudos, Martin Sorrondeguy, Limp Wrist, Thalia Zedek, Scott Free, God Is My Co-Pilot, Sleater-Kinney, Pansy Division, Jenny Urban, DJ Larissa, Ed Varga, queer, punk, queer punk, Chris Kellner, Jane Danger, Gentleman Caller, Kenny Childers, No One’s Daughter, Heartless, Pilsen Community Books, Maryse Meijer, Smart Bar, 23 Hour Party People, Derrick Carter, Miss Kittin, Robert Hood, Justin Long, Olin, Eris Drew, DJ Heather, Video

Blogs, Bleader Aug 2, 2017
In their words: How the folks at Fed Up Fest help keep queer punk a ‘community of care’

Everything about this year's Fed Up Fest—the bystander intervention training, the panel discussions on aging in punk, the frenzied yet thoughtful music—manifested the spirit of resistance, hope, and direct action.
- By Ashley Ray-Harris
- Tags: LGBTQ+, Music, Politics, Fed Up Fest, Co-Prosperity Sphere, queer, LGBT, LGBTQ, punk, hardcore, Homocore, Latino, Los Crudos, Limp Wrist, Martin Sorrondeguy, Jes Skolnik, Split Feet, El Rescate, Ono, Travis, Monica Trinidad, For the People Artists Collective, Anthony Wright, Chicago House & Social Service Agency, Mascha, E. Ornelas, Isabella Mancini, Ephran Ramirez, Mariam Bastani, Condenada, Permanent Ruin, Jolene, Blacker Face, Natalie Grace Krueger, Contentious, Pursley, No Men, Eric Strom

Blogs, Bleader Jul 15, 2017
Arca & Jesse Kanda played with confusion to liberate the Pitchfork crowd

Venezuelan producer Arca and video artist Jesse Kanda played with the binary of attraction and revulsion to reprogram the default modes of consumption at a music festival.
- By Sasha Geffen
- Tags: Music, Pitchfork Day One, LGBT, Visual Art, Pitchfork, Pitchfork Music Festival, Blue Stage, Arca, Jesse Kanda, Xen, Mutant, Doon Kanda, Deftones, Le Tigre, Veuve Clicquot, queer, visuals, video

Blogs, Bleader Jun 15, 2017
Queer doom duo Vile Creature don’t have time for ‘melted dickwads’

Vile Creature make a lot of metal for just two people, with great melodies and a supremely satisfying guitar tone—and they play Chicago on Friday night.
- By Philip Montoro
- Tags: Do This, Music, LGBTQ+, Vile Creature, doom metal, doom, queer, vegan, Ontario, St. Catharines, A Pessimistic Doomsayer, Weenie Hut Jr's, Pussy Foot, Pyrex, Toward the Sword, Vic, KW, A Steady Descent Into the Soil, Signaturetone Recording, Adam Tucker

Arts & Culture, Comedy Apr 7, 2017
Queer stand-ups create their own Space in comedy

A new variety show in Hyde Park encourages inclusivity and community.
- By Brianna Wellen
- Tags: Comedy, Shannon Noll, Carly Ballerini, Space, The Revival, queer, LGBTQ, Peter Kim, Cody Melcher, Melody Kamali

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