Gapers Block published from April 22, 2003 to Jan. 1, 2016. The site will remain up in archive form. Please visit Third Coast Review, a new site by several GB alumni.
✶ Thank you for your readership and contributions. ✶
Monday, October 7
Blue Balliett, author of Chasing Vermeer, holds an open house from 2-3:30pm at 57th St. Books. 1301 E. 57th St. Call 773-684-1300 for more information.
Running on Saturdays and Sundays through April 16, Phalanx Theater's Contents May Be Extremely Hot follows five coffee shop regulars in search for the amazing in the ordinary. It's a "site-specific piece of modern magical realism...proof that the most-life changing events can occur over a simple cup of beans." 8pm at Swim Cafe, 1357 W. Chicago Ave. $7. Call 773-573-0378 for tickets and information.
Come to LaSalle Bank at 4901 W. Irving Park Rd. for their monthly film screening. Tonight's show is Fourteen Hours with Richard Baseheart and the Laurel and Hardy short, Liberty. Regular admission is $5; $3 for seniors and kids. 8pm. Call 312-904-9442 for more information.
Deepa Iyer, executive directo of the South Asian American Leaders of Tomorrow, speaks at Indian Garden Restaurant on how South Asians should become involved in debates on the treatment of South Asian immigrants. 12-2pm, 247 E. Ontario. $10 for the lunch buffet. RSVP required; contact Anita Banerji at banerji_anita[at]hotmail[dot]com to save your spot.
Have you ever wanted to know more about Chicago's Greek history? Join curious others in the Greek Chicago Special Interest Tour with guides Harold and Faye Peponis. The tour looks at the lives of early Greek immigrants and includes visits to St. Basil's Greek Orthodox Chuch and Jane Addams Hull House. The $50 ticket price - $45 for students and seniors - includes lunch at Pegasus. Tours depart from the Chicago Cultural Center, 77 E. Randolph, at 10am. Call 312-742-1190 to make reservations.
Open End Gallery hosts the Raizel Performances in The Piners Prom. A 50s-inspired dance concert, the prom "pairs original choreography from six choreographers with original music and revamped oldies covers from a live rock orchestra." Featuring all local talent, from the dancers to the musicians to the costume designers, notable contributers include Will Butler of The Arcade Fire doing music and Jay Ryan designing posters. $10 at the door, 2000 W. Fulton #310. Running March 10, 11, 17 and 18. Call 312-738-2140 or email raizelperformances[at]gmail[dot]com for tickets and information.
Wowee Zowee, I'm so excited for this Andy Warhol exhibit to open at the MCA. Today thru June 18 you can check out: ANDY WARHOL/SUPERNOVA: Stars, Deaths, and Disasters, 1962-1964. From the museum: "The exhibit will bring together more than 25 examples of the artist's early silkscreen paintings, juxtaposing his iconic serial images of such figures as Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor, and Elvis Presley with the artist's evocative and at times disturbing appropriations of newspaper images of car crashes, electric chairs, and other horrifying manifestations of disaster.... The exhibition is accompanied by Warhol’s "Screen Tests," source materials, films of Warhol's "superstars," the film "Elvis at Ferus," documenting his show at the Ferus Gallery, and a fully illustrated catalogue." If that can't get your butt in the door, nothing will. Check the website for times and admission prices.
Greasy Joan & Co. tackles Aeschylus’ classic trilogy, in which Queen Clytemnestra murders her husband Agamemnon on his victorious return from the Trojan War, and later is murdered by her son Orestes. Then the Furies torment Orestes until the whole mess gets settled in court. Through 23 April, $15. Gallery 37 Center for the Arts, 66 E Randolph St. For more information, visit the website.
Chicago's Glass Slipper Project, which provides formal dresses and accessories to Chicago high school students who can't afford to buy prom attire, is making their yearly collection between 10 AM and 4 PM on Saturday, March 18 at Dame Couture (4316 N. Elston). Bring your "formal" donations to Dame and they will take them to an official dropoff location!
From 9 AM to 2 PM today, you can browse through piles of genre fiction and true-crime paperbacks and hardcovers—specialties include whodunits, romance, and science fiction. Free. 60 W. Walton St. For more information, call 312-255-3700 or visit the website.