Taiko Legacy 20/Photo: Ken Carl
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ART
Staple + Stitch Art Book Fair Coming To Chicago
Art book and print fair Staple + Stitch, featuring publishers, independent presses, book artists, zine makers and printmakers, is coming to 21c Museum Hotel Chicago. Chicago-based book and print vendors include The Renaissance Society, 5×7 books, Chicago’s Printers Guild, Skylark Editions, Western Exhibitions, Bert Green Fine Art, Buddy, The Chicago Reader, Spudnik Press and Sonnenzimmer, as well as individual artists, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago Photography Department and the School of Visual Arts at Columbia College Chicago. November 15-17. More here.
Wealthiest Art Collectors Reduce Buying Habits
“Art Basel and UBS’ latest collector survey polls 3,660 high net-worth individuals on their buying behavior from fourteen regions during 2023 and the first half of 2024,” reports Artnet. “While median spending has not fallen markedly, the big drop in average spend is mostly due to the buying behavior of millennials, or collectors between twenty-eight and forty-three years old. In 2022, this age group spent the most on art thanks to a small group of big spenders at the top end. Yet, in 2023, their average outlay on art dropped from $864,940 to $395,000, or fifty-four percent.”
UChicago Students Can Hang Original Art In Dorm Rooms
Some students at the University of Chicago have “the opportunity to borrow an original work of art from the school’s Smart Museum of Art,” reports Alison Cuddy at NPR. The circulating work began with fifty pieces from a Chicago art collector’s gift from 1958, which grew to 500 before the program was dormant from the 1980s until 2017, when it was revived by money from a former participant. Now maintained by the Smart Museum, 134 works of paper from the museum circulate. “The color lithographs [include work by] Joan Miró, Marc Chagall and Yves Tanguy, iconic prints by Gordon Parks and Jenny Holzer, and even a couple of Picassos. Contemporary artists like Takashi Murakami and Robert Indiana are abundant, and Chicago artists, including Nick Cave, Amanda Williams and Karl Wirsum, are well-represented.”
Amateur Art Sleuth Brings Lost Works To Light
“Dashing, enigmatic” Clifford Schorer III has hunches that “don’t always prove correct: He’s been suckered by at least a few forgeries or phonies. ‘Sometimes you follow threads that turn into an unraveling sweater,’ he admits,” records Vanity Fair. “But many filaments he’s followed have led to veritable treasures: the previously unrecorded van Haarlem he spotted in New Jersey that now hangs in the Art Institute of Chicago; a Cézanne he snagged from a Campbell’s Soup heiress and helped place in Ireland’s National Gallery; and three possibilities he scooped up on the cheap that were subsequently reattributed to the Milanese maestro Daniele Crespi. He also owns four works from Rembrandt’s studio, he claims, including ‘two that I believe are by the master himself.’”
DESIGN
SOM Will Reimagine Ninety-Fifth And Ninety-Sixth Floors Of John Hancock, Which The Firm Originated
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill have announced plans “to redevelop the ninety-fifth and ninety-sixth floors of the iconic 875 North Michigan, [formerly] named the John Hancock Center,” reports Arch Daily. “The building, originally designed by SOM in 1967 and completed in 1970, is recognized as the world’s first mixed-use skyscraper.” The redesign “aims to reimagine the two floors, measuring 30,000 square feet, into an observation deck and an attractive destination.”
Mag Mile Office Conversion Could Yield More Than 300 Apartments
“If approved by City Council, 324 apartments would be built inside a twenty-four-story former office building [at 500 North] Michigan Avenue,” reports Block Club. “Retail space would remain on the first two floors, which are occupied by a Vans store, a Bank of America branch and a Chick-fil-A. Office space will be retained on the third through fifth floors.”
Looking Up To A New Glass Tower In Uptown
“While some of Chicago’s late nineteenth-century tall buildings, such as the Reliance Building at State and Washington streets, were predominantly glass, it wasn’t until the arrival of Mies van der Rohe and the post-World War II building boom that the glass building become a staple of almost every city’s skyline. More recent developments surrounding energy efficiency and climate change have slowed glass’ dominance, but architects’ preference for large glassy volumes have led them to employ new tricks to maintain the desired aesthetic,” writes Trib architecture critic Edward Keegan. “That’s the case at Solverre, a new twelve-story residential apartment building designed by… Valerio Dewalt Train and facing the Lakefront in Uptown.”
Warehouse Fire Reveals St. Louis Has Nine Thousand Vacant Buildings
A fire at a vacant warehouse led St. Louis’ KTVI-TV to tally how many vacant buildings are in that city: the struck building, according to a city website, “is one of more than 9,000 vacant buildings within the city. It also shows another 15,000 vacant properties.”
DINING & DRINKING
Oooh Wee It Is No More
Chatham soul food restaurant Oooh Wee! It Is! has closed after three years, reports Block Club. It “closed in mid-June for ‘retooling’ and never reopened. A bright orange ‘for sale’ sign adorned the 83rd Street building Monday.” Asking price: $1.35 million. “The restaurant gained local and national acclaim for its pot roast cupcakes, corn muffins and shrimp and grits,” and boasted a cereal bar.
Lawrence Fish Market Opens In Chinatown
Lawrence Fish Market, historically known for fresh, high-quality sushi and seafood at wholesale prices, is opening a second location in Bridgeport-Chinatown on Friday. The new spot will include a ramen bar while offering its signature sushi, maki and sashimi. The expanded menu includes Izakaya-style ramen, in-house noodle, and pork-based dishes. And for the first time, Lawrence Fish Market will offer dine-in service with both counter and waiter service. More here.
Within The Orb At Chicago’s Nerds Gummy Clusters Plant
“How does a candy brand that was started forty years ago suddenly become one of the most popular treats in America, with a cult following, a Super Bowl ad and TikTok fame?” asks the New York Times (gift link). “The answer lies at the center of a chewy ball rolled in smaller, crunchier balls. In other words, Nerds Gummy Clusters… In 2018, Nerds products brought in $40 million in sales. In the past calendar year, the company said, that number jumped to $800 million, a twenty-fold increase in about six years. The company declined to specify its profits. The new product’s following also led to the first Super Bowl ad in Ferrara’s history, and the company said it planned to release a second Super Bowl ad in 2025.”
Wisconsin Pizzeria Accidentally Serves THC-Spiked Crust; Dozens Sick
“Public Health Madison & Dane County is urging community members to throw out any pizza they may have from Famous Yeti’s Pizza in Stoughton,” they post, “due to unintentional THC contamination… Famous Yeti’s Pizza operates in a building that also has a shared industrial kitchen where many businesses make food and other products.” Famous Yeti’s posts that pizza dough was “mistakenly prepared with oil contaminated with delta-9. The oil accidentally used in the product originated from a shared storage space in the on-site cooperative commercial kitchen.”
FILM & TELEVISION
Fifteenth Mostra Brazilian Film Fest Is Coming
From November 2-16, the fifteenth survey of features, documentaries and shorts from Brazil in the Midwest will hold screenings across Chicago and several cities in Indiana. Opening night at Instituto Cervantes features Kleber Mendonça Filho’s bittersweet documentary, “Pictures of Ghosts,” about his childhood memories of moviegoing, and closes with “Aunt Virginia” by Fábio Meira. Full details here.
LIT
Heeere’s Bill Zehme’s Johnny Carson Biography
“Not long after Bill Zehme and I linked up and hit it off, I began helping him streamline and organize transcripts for a memoir he was working on with Jay Leno,” writes Mike Thomas at Chicago magazine. “That morphed into a gig as Bill’s first-ever research assistant—’legman’ in crusty journo parlance… Shortly after Carson’s death in late January 2005, Bill started work on the biography, building on the foundation of his reporting for a 2002 Esquire profile of Carson… Bill was highly skilled at probing and humanizing public figures—especially talk show hosts, and perhaps most of all Letterman, whose psyche he described as ‘squirming, dark, and exquisite.’”
Zehme’s health turned eight years into the project, and Thomas took over. “Bill completed the first three-quarters of ‘Carson the Magnificent’ before his diagnosis… Nearly twenty years in the making, the book will finally be published in early November. My part in making that possible was itself made possible by the extensive groundwork Bill laid. Everything I needed (and so much more) was there, somewhere, stashed in long-unopened binders and torn envelopes and dusty bins… But I’ve never lost sight of the fact that, despite my contributions, this is Bill’s book.”
Wicker Park Barnes & Noble Opens Today
“What was once the most architecturally magnificent chain drugstore in Chicago will soon be the city’s most magnificent chain bookstore,” writes Amy Yee at the Sun-Times. “The 1919 neoclassical building is considered an architectural gem and features a stained-glass window in its intricate ceiling. Entering through its gilt revolving doors creates a transportive feel, fitting for the power of books.”
Tradition Of British Book Fairs Endangered
“Over the past seventy-five years, the idea of the book festival has become embedded in the British cultural landscape. But as costs rise sharply and reading habits change, many are finding it a struggle to survive,” relays the Guardian.
What’s Behind Those Shoddy Paperbacks?
Bookstores are stocking more “print-on-demand paperbacks: low quality covers and paper, often poorly printed, and listed at a higher price than their regular-print brethren,” reports Literary Hub. It’s “basically fast fashion for books, and… the sudden rise in ‘cheaper’ paperbacks might have a long-term negative effect on the publishing industry.”
MEDIA
Washington Post Cancellations Approach Ten-Percent Of Subscriber Base; New York Times Brandishes Harris Endorsement
“More than 200,000 people had canceled their digital subscriptions by midday Monday,” after the spiking of an editorial board endorsement of Kamala Harris by owner Jeff Bezos, the world’s third-richest man, reports David Folkenflik at NPR. “The figure represents about eight percent of the paper’s paid circulation of 2.5 million subscribers, which includes print as well. The number of cancellations continued to grow… Earlier this year, Will Lewis, the Post publisher, had touted the paper’s net gain of 4,000 subscribers as noteworthy… Three of the top ten viewed stories on the Post’s website Sunday were articles written by Post staffers outraged by billionaire owner Jeff Bezos’ decision.” Writes Gene Weingarten, two-time Pulitzer winner for the Post with his humor columns, “There is such a thing as moral authority. It may be intangible, but it is there, and it can be powerful. It is essential to newspaper opinion writing. The Washington Post owner flushed it down the toilet yesterday. What is left is invertebrate.”
Former Post executive editor Marty Baron tells the New Yorker’s Isaac Chotiner, “I feel exceptionally disappointed. And I worry about what it means, not just for the Post but for democracy… Anybody who owns a media organization needs to be willing to stand up to intense pressure. And Bezos demonstrated that he was capable of that and willing to do that. Now I worry that there’s a sign of weakness. If Trump sees a sign of weakness, he’s going to pounce even harder in the future.” Bezos published an editorial (gift link) citing his reasoning, which only muddied the waters, referring to journalism as “our profession,” which offended professional journalists online. “You can see my wealth and business interests as a bulwark against intimidation, or you can see them as a web of conflicting interests. Only my own principles can tip the balance from one to the other.”
To forestall confusion with either the Los Angeles Times or Washington Post abrupt refusals to endorse, Times opinion editor Kathleen Kingsbury tweeted a video assuring that the New York-based media and games conglomerate had in fact endorsed Kamala Harris. Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Times has shed at least 14,000 subscribers this week, tweets Semafor’s Max Tani.
Guardian Media Journalists Could Strike Over Planned Sale Of 232-Year-Old The Observer
In numbers passing ninety-three percent, “Guardian and Observer journalists have voted in favor of possible strike action in protest at proposals to sell The Observer to Tortoise Media,” reports PressGazette. Tortoise Media is a yet-unprofitable digital startup with a portfolio that includes podcasts.
MUSIC
Listen To Chopin’s New Release
“An unknown work in Chopin’s hand has emerged in a New York museum, the first such find in more than a half century.” The pianist Lang Lang plays it at the New York Times (gift link). “After testing the manuscript’s paper and ink, analyzing its handwriting and musical style, and consulting outside experts, the Morgan has come to a momentous conclusion: The work is likely an unknown waltz by Frédéric Chopin, the great fantasist of the Romantic era, the first such discovery in more than half a century.”
Sounds Of The Cold War Fill Guarneri Hall
The nonprofit Guarneri Hall, the custom-built classical venue in the heart of downtown Chicago, presents “Sounds of the Cold War,” a three-day concert series examining Cold War-era music from both sides of the Iron Curtain. Honoring the thirty-fifth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, three performances will be held November 7-9, featuring music by Hanns Eisler, Dmitri Shostakovich, Sofia Gubaidulina, György Ligeti and György Kurtág, with each event including commentary about the sociopolitical context for the music from guest speakers from the University of Chicago: sociology professor Andreas Glaeser; Graham School instructor, Jennifer A. Lind; and associate professor of political science Paul Poast. Each performance is followed by a reception where audience members, performers and scholars engage in conversations. Tickets ($40) and more here.
“Taiko Legacy 21” Events Unite Taiko Artists
Asian Improv aRts Midwest and Tsukasa Taiko, with director, multi-instrumentalist and media artist Tatsu Aoki, will celebrate a decade of “Reduction” concerts with “Reduction 10” at the MCA, Saturday, December 14 and the “Taiko Legacy 21” on Sunday, December 15. “The annual ‘Taiko Legacy’ concert is rooted in the traditions of ozashiki (geisha chamber music), ohayashi (classical-folk-theater music), and matsuri taiko (festival taiko music). Performative arrangements of original compositions from Tsukasa Taiko recontextualize the cultural traditions within contemporary ecologies of art, music and theater. Led by professional taiko artists and the longstanding Gintenkai community performance ensemble from Tsukasa Taiko, ‘Taiko Legacy 21’ also features the next generation youth members who form a vital part of this ongoing legacy. Special guests for this concert include flutist Hyakkyou Fukuhara from Tokyo, and Melody Takata and GenRyu Arts from San Francisco.” More details and tickets ($20) here.
STAGE
Twenty-Fifth Chicago Theatre Week Set For February
Chicago Theatre Week with discount tickets has been set for February 6-16, 2025. For the third year, HotTix.org will host Chicago Theatre Week Continued from February 17-23, 2025, which will extend Theatre Week discounts to participating productions for an additional week. Tickets ($30, $15 and less) go on sale 10am Tuesday, January 7, 2025 here.
ARTS & CULTURE & ETC.
Report Released On Local Arts Spending Of Federal Relief Funds
“Local arts agencies distributed $100 million in federal relief funding to arts and cultural organizations during the pandemic to sustain and fuel their programs,” relays SMU DataArts, along with Bloomberg Associates. The twenty-three-page report is here (pdf). The report “explores how eleven local arts agencies advocated for and distributed this funding to their communities through document reviews, interviews and qualitative data gathering. The insights gleaned demonstrate the responsive and nimble ways these agencies operated throughout the pandemic, and the common tactics related to advocacy, process, and equity across all eleven cities may point to local arts agency best practices moving forward.” (Chicago and DCASE are among the subjects.)
Illinois Sand Mines Key Ingredient For Fracking
“Both presidential candidates say a domestic supply of emissions-intensive fossil fuels is essential for national security in what political pundits say is an appeal to Pennsylvania voters,” reports the Tribune. “Fracking enables the extraction of oil and gases encased in rock formations thousands of feet underground that are not easily permeable via traditional drilling methods. The process releases large amounts of methane, a gas with eighty times more warming power than carbon dioxide in the short term. Beyond contributing to climate change, the fracking industry has also had wide-reaching impacts on land use and community health [including from] sand mines in Illinois. LaSalle County in north central Illinois sits on rich deposits of silica sand, the optimal ingredient for a pressurized cocktail of sand, water and chemicals that is essential for fracking.”
Union Tells Hard Rock Casino Rockford They Will Be Unionized
“Rockford area union members and leaders rallied outside Hard Rock Casino Rockford last week, saying an anti-union campaign is pointless,” reports the Rockford Register Star, and that the establishment “would be better off recognizing employee unions rather than engaging in an expensive anti-union campaign.”
Airline Refunds Now Automatic
“Airlines in the United States are now required to give passengers cash refunds if their flight is significantly delayed or canceled, even if that person does not explicitly ask for a refund,” reports CNN. “The final federal rule requiring that airlines [issue] refunds—not vouchers—went into effect Monday. The major change is being implemented only a month before the start of what is likely to be a huge holiday travel season.” MarketWatch expands on the new rules here. Transportation Secretary Buttigieg tweets the basics in a chart here.
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