WBEZ 91.5 Chicago

The annual list of Illinois' ten most endangered historic places came out today.Three of the most threatened places named by Landmarks Illinois are in Cook County.President Jim Peters said the former Park Ridge home and studio of Alfonso Iannelli made the list.

It is spring but in true Chicago style the warm weather keeps coming in fits and starts. But those April showers are on track! For writer Rita Coburn Whack, the rain always brings back memories of an old neighbor. As a child Coburn-Whack thought the neighbor was strange.

April is National Poetry Month. Over the next month, Eight Forty-Eight will celebrate by bringing you poems written by local everyday people. The series kicks off with a selection from The Neighborhood Writing Alliance. The group runs a network of writing workshops around the city.

Renowned for photographs, videos, and text-works that challenge narrow, conventional views of gender, identity, culture, history, and memory, Lorna Simpson discusses her process and her most recent work, placing it in the context of the history of her practice.

Here’s another foolish saying: "fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me." Back in the '80s painter Mark Kostabi made fools out of the art world and made a ton of money doing so.

A second wave of relief efforts to help Japan is spreading across metropolitan Chicago. Volunteers hope to spur donations by touching people through food, music and ancient traditions.Over at the Japanese American Service Committee on Chicago’s North Side, several drummers rehearsed.

Think silent film and Charlie Chaplin or Buster Keaton probably come to mind. Or maybe some ragtime piano, or a bit of pipe organ? Seth Boustead is updating those images. He’s the man behind the Sound of Silent Film Festival.