Jim DeRogatis

Jun. 8, 2010

Book review: A fascinating look at the vocoder, and musicians protest Arizona's demonization of "illegal" immigrants

Jun. 8, 2010

Even if you aren't familiar with the name of this particular piece of odd electronic instrumentation, you've no doubt heard the vocoder in action: It's front and center, distorting the vocals to sounds like peculiarly funky robots from another world in "Trans Europe Express" by electronic gods Kraftwerk and "Planet Rock" by hip-hop pioneer Afrika Bambaataa; "Intergalactic" by the Beastie Boys and "Word Up" by Cameo, and "I'm Not Moving" by Phil Collins and "Mr. Roboto" by Styx (though those two you might wish you could forget).

On one level, Dave Tompkins' new book, How to Wreck A Nice Beach: The Vocoder from World War II to Hip-Hop: The Machine Speaks (Stop Smiling Books, $35), may tell you more than you ever thought you'd want to know about this collection of knobs, wires, and complicated circuitry.

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Robert Feder

Jun. 8, 2010

Sports media column vanishes after unsettling the Score

Jun. 8, 2010

Every few years the Chicago Sun-Times gets a new sports editor, and every few years the new sports editor lets Jim O'Donnell write a weekly column on sports media.

O'Donnell, who joined the Sun-Times sports staff in 1997 after working for the Daily Herald, is a distinctive writer who has a particular knack for channeling the vitriolic spirit of former Chicago TV critic Gary Deeb. In fact, I'd say he's better at it than anyone in the world (which is saying a lot, considering that I worked as Deeb's legman at the Sun-Times for three years).

Invariably, O'Donnell uses his sports media column to attack his perceived enemies and settle old scores -- much as Deeb did in his heyday --  until the sports editor gets tired of catching all the flak and yanks O'Donnell's column away.

Believe it or not, it just happened again: Chris De Luca, who was promoted to sports editor last November, is the latest to have given O'Donnell a sports media column and then suddenly taken it away.

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Mission Amy KR

Jun. 7, 2010

#22 Imagine Nation: We are so writing a children's book together!

Jun. 7, 2010

OMG‚ I'm so excited about this idea, this week's mission:

We're going to write a children's book together!

I've been tossing around the idea of a book called "Imagine Nation" for a while. Imagine Nation is an amazing place to live because when you imagine something good/cool/wonderful/revolutionary -- poof -- it comes to be! (Fortunately for all residents, if someone accidentally (or maliciously) imagines something NOT good, it simply won't happen.)

I'm going to tell you a few of the ideas I have for the book/story in a moment, and then in the comment section to your left, I invite you all to share your ideas big and small! Then I will craft this into an actual children's book! And every single one of us will be the authors! (and credited as such).

I'm not sure yet if this would be something I would take to one of my editors/publishers, or if we should self-publish this on Lulu.com. Also not sure about illustrating: one of the illustrators I currently work with? One of you, someone who's looking to break into the business? The other undecided detail is proceeds: donate to charity? Set up a Mission Amy K.R. fund that we use for subsequent projects and missions? Start a scholarship fund? I'm open to your thoughts on these topics but I think I'm getting ahead of myself. (Can you tell I'm excited?)

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Achy Obejas

Jun. 7, 2010

Descontructing the public apology: What does 'misremembered' really mean?

Jun. 7, 2010

Patrick Reichard admits he didn’t catch Congressman Mark Kirk’s bizarre apology last week.

“I simply misremembered it wrong,” Kirk said about a series of campaign overstatements regarding his military service and being shot at in Iraq. Kirk is the GOP nominee for President Obama’s old senate seat.

But, now, a zesty cold michelada in hand at Los Girasoles Restaurant in Brighton Park, Reichard is taking a more focused look at Kirk’s utterance.

“It’s a double negative,” says Reichard, an associate professor of English and Developmental English at Prairie State College in Chicago Heights. “Except that ‘misremembered’ isn’t even a word. And, for an apology, it’s pretty blameless. He makes it sound like the equivalent of tripping on a bump on a sidewalk.”

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Anne Elizabeth Moore

Jun. 7, 2010

Revision Street: Sladjana Vuckovic (III)

Jun. 7, 2010

Sladjana grew up on the East Side in the mid-to-late 1970s. After a couple years away for school—still in Illinois, though—she eventually moved back to Chicago. She lives in Hyde Park.

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Lee Bey

Jun. 7, 2010

Warhol comes to Crown Hall: Architecture with a chance of 'Clouds'

Jun. 7, 2010


(photo by Lee Bey) 

The late Andy Warhol's famed Silver Clouds is billowing around the interior of IIT's Crown Hall. It's worth checking out.

One thousand helium-filled mylar balloons--seemingly with minds of their own--rise and float around the interior of the Mies van der Rohe-designed glass pavilion/masterpiece/home to the IIT's College of Architecture. Warhol and engineer Billy Klƒ¼ver created Silver Clouds, which debuted at Leo Castelli Gallery in New York in 1966, and it became an instant icon of modern art. The folks at the Mies van der Rohe Society at IIT say the Crown Hall showing of Clouds is the biggest installation of the work yet, with scores of balloons joyously animating the modernist building's huge interior.

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Steve Dolinsky

Jun. 7, 2010

Underground dinners proliferate, but not always worth it

Jun. 7, 2010

 

Everyone loves a little adventure, especially when it comes to dining. There's the intrigue, the unknown, the illicit nature of dining under the radar of the Chicago Department of Health. It's probably why there's been a proliferation of "underground dinners" lately. With names like Sunday Dinner Club, X-Marx, Culinary Speakeasy and the latest -- One Sister -- these businesses are run by talented 20 or 30-somethings who've usually worked in established, professional kitchens.

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Jim DeRogatis

Jun. 7, 2010

Album review: Rhymefest, "El Che"; more evidence of BP's evil, and Jackson shrine in Gary--or maybe not

Jun. 7, 2010


Rhymefest, "El Che" (www.elchethemovement.com)

Known to his mom as Che Smith and raised in the South Side neighborhood of Jeffrey Manor, Chicago rapper Rhymefest first grabbed the national spotlight in 2004 as co-author of Kanye West's mega-hit "Jesus Walks," a feat for which he claimed a third of the 2005 Grammy for Best Rap Song, along with West and hip-hop violinist Miri Ben-Ari. Marked as a hot up-and-comer, though he was already nearing age 30, Rhymefest signed to Clive Davis's J Records, a label more in tune with the "American Idol" crowd than cutting-edge hip-hop, and the company hardly did justice to his fine 2006 debut, "Blue Collar," my choice for one of that year's best albums.

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