Imagine a looming dystopian future in which Italian restaurants have replaced all the city’s faux Irish bars, and the only things left to go out for are risotto and little scraps of raw fish. That’s where we’re headed. But truthfully—excepting the 800-pound gorilla on Ohio Street—2014’s most unoriginal restaurant concept has had a pretty good track record so far, as witnessed by the Reader‘s own reviews of Joe Fish, Nico Osteria, Cicchetti , and Azzurra EnoTavola....

Q: I am a gay man in my late 50s and have never been in a relationship. I am so lonely, and the painful emptiness I feel is becoming absolutely unbearable. In my early 20s, I hooked up off and on, but it never developed into anything. I have always told myself that’s OK; I’m not a people person or a relationship kind of guy. I have a few lesbian friends but no male friends....

Tickets are on sale for this year’s edition of the Hamburger Hop, the part of Chicago Gourmet where chefs compete to make exotic burgers. I wrote about it last year when I was a judge, and guess what—I’ll be one again along with WXRT’s Lin Brehmer and chef Spike Mendelsohn (Good Stuff Eatery), who won last year. (I’m credited as being from Reader sibling the Sun-Times—guess I’m moving with Dumke!) The star studded list of burger chefs competing includes Chris Curren of Seven Lions, Ryan McCaskey of Acadia, Doug Psaltis of RPM Steak, and others....

The Mystery of Life, Cone’s latest movie, screens three times this week. It’s been a busy year for Chicago-based actor and filmmaker Stephen Cone. In June his most recent feature Black Box received a weeklong run at the Gene Siskel Film Center, his featurette This Afternoon played at this Chicago International Film Festival earlier this month, and his latest work, The Mystery of Life, plays at Chicago Filmmakers tomorrow at 8 PM, Sunday at 6 PM, and on Wednesday at 6:30 PM at Columbia College’s Hokin Hall....

Facebook/Twitter The big boys let Mayor Rahm sit at the grown-ups table. Just in case anyone forgot who really runs things in this town, the Sun-Times appeared on my front porch on Wednesday—hand delivered, as always—with a picture of a recent gathering at Gibsons steakhouse. I can only imagine the table talk as the night wore on and the red wine flowed. But if Mayor Emanuel’s recent behavior is any indication, I wouldn’t be surprised if Mayor Daley gave him a tip or two about how to run Chicago....

Q: I’m a recently divorced single mom and full-time student. I’m really beginning to hurt financially and have decided to start working as an escort. I am at a point of great emotional stability, happiness, and confidence–all reasons that led to my decision–and I’m surrounded by people who love me and won’t judge me. (Not that I will be telling most of them.) I’ve been seeing a man who I like, but I’ve made it clear that I am not committed to him and can see him only once a week....

Last week, the BBC asked 62 film critics from around the world to each submit what they considered the ten greatest American movies of all time. The subsequent list is filled with canonical favorites, including Citizen Kane (which took the top spot), Singin’ in the Rain, and The Godfather, as well as a few surprise appearances—Groundhog Day checked in at number 71, and Steve McQueen’s recent 12 Years a Slave showed up at number 99....

Cook up and tie off—T2, the long-awaited sequel to Danny Boyle’s British black comedy Trainspotting, opens this weekend. Released in 1996, Trainspotting arrived in the U.S. as domestic heroin use was peaking, and its tale of five directionless Edinburgh lads, some of them avid junkies, connected with indie filmgoers like a spike into the main line. No movie ever made me want to do the drug more, not after Boyle married it to the irresistible bomp-bomp-bomp, bomp-bomp-ba-bomp of Iggy Pop’s “Lust for Life....

Q: I’ve always been a big believer in the common-sense obviousness that monogamy is hard. Additionally, I like the idea of my wife getting fucked. I don’t have any desire to be denigrated or emasculated; I just get off on the idea of her being satisfied and a little transgressive. Early in our relationship, we talked about monogamish guidelines: I’d like to be informed and consulted, and she would rather I kept mine to myself....

A Reader staffer shares three musical obsessions, then asks someone (who asks someone else) to take a turn. Arabrot, Who Do You Love Led by Norwegian singer-guitarist Kjetil Nernes, avant-noise weirdos Arabrot suck you into a surreal world with depraved takes on religion, literature, and politics. Following 2016’s The Gospel, written in part during Nernes’s fight with cancer and saturated with WWI-era imagery, Who Do You Love digs into the murky lines between good and evil....

On Saturday Dr. Dre announced the imminent release of his third album, Compton: A Soundtrack by Dr. Dre, which came with the news that he’s ditched the long-brewing full-length Detox. Given that Dre’s been hyping Detox since the release of his last album, 1999’s 2001, the unreleased project’s failure has taken up much of the oxygen surrounding Compton: A Soundtrack, even though Dre is putting that LP into the world soon....

When you walk into “Ins Büro!”—a collection of German-born, Antwerp-based artist Kati Heck’s paintings, drawings, and sculpture at Corbett vs. Dempsey—the first thing you see, right near the entrance, is a painted wooden human hand on the wall with a small flagpole protruding from its pointing index finger. A flag hangs from the horizontal pole with the title of the exhibition on it in big, round, red text (English translation: “Go to the office!...

Based on true events in 1822 Manhattan, The African Company Presents Richard III, written by Carlyle Brown, tells the tale of two rival theater companies, one black and one white. An appreciation for Shakespeare is widely considered the mark of a “cultured” person, yet culture is often bred in exclusivity. Who owns Shakespeare? Can neophytes without training or perfect diction deserve acclaim? Director Ron OJ Parson expertly highlights Brown’s examination of respectability politics and code-switching and draws a direct line from slavery to its racist legacy today in the form of grammar shamers and “Permit Pattys....

“I wish I could get on the Brown Line at Quincy and not have the train smell like pee, but wait: it wouldn’t smell like pee, and I could get a seat; then when we got to LaSalle/Van Buren no one—who are we kidding: a dude, it’s always a dude—would sit next to me and manspread me into a half-seat-sized person, so that when we stopped at Harold Washington Library-State/Van Buren I could focus on how I don’t have a stack of overdue books that I keep forgetting to return and instead are racking up fines on my nightstand so as we came close to Washington/Wabash, when a group of tourists asked me if this was the stop for ‘the art museum,’ I wouldn’t even feel like correcting them with a ‘you mean the Art Institute?...

Sunday, August 16, 201510 AM – 3 PM Pulaski Park Field House and Auditorium 1419 W. Blackhawk, Chicago The Made in Chicago Market is back! Come shop local and support fellow Chicagoans as they showcase some of the best apparel, housewares, food and drink that Chicago has to offer! Brought to you by Participating Local Vendors 826Chi Amy’s Candy Bar Anastasia Chatzka Artumie Candle Studio AxBox Cigar Box Guitars Ayurveda Alchemists LLC...

I was having lunch at Bub City with Myron Mixon, costar of the TV shows BBQ Pitmasters and BBQ Pit Wars, three-time Memphis in May grand champion, and barbecue consultant and marketing whiz under the name Jack’s Old South BBQ, based out of Braselton, Georgia. I asked him what he’d sampled of Chicago barbecue: “You’re lookin’ at it,” he said, pointing to the food we’d ordered off Bub City’s menu that day....

Late-90s beatdown-styled hardcore—of the ilk that chugs in step with the sweet rhythm of a double-kick pedal—has been quite on the up and up in recent years, and Kentucky’s Knocked Loose have been stoked to provide some of the better pickin-up-change breakdowns of the resurgence. Last September’s Laugh Tracks (Pure Noise) is a fury of metalcore-heavy guitar licks that act as bridges from one mosh pit to the next, vocalist Bryan Garris’s raspy gasp toeing the line between exasperation and rage....

I took to the stage at Revolution Hall in Portland, Oregon, for a live taping of the Savage Lovecast on Easter weekend. Audience members submitted their questions on cards, but there were many we didn’t get to. So in this week’s column I’m going to reply to as many as I can. A: I’m tired of this debate, so consider this my final answer: So what if it is pee?...

No need to break out a tux or gown; the Printers Ball is a casual celebration of the printed medium. Now in its tenth year, the event kicks off Saturday at 4 PM with readings by regulars of the Danny’s and Dollhouse series, Brain Frame artists doing live interpretations of comics and zines, printmaker Leah Mackin demonstrating printing and bookbinding, and folks from Press Bike rolling out prints in the parking lot....

It’s springtime, finally, and after weeks of stasis the Hot 100 is starting to turn over. While the top ten is still being firmly ruled by Pharrell’s juggernaut-like “Happy”, John Legend’s surprisingly unstoppable “All of Me,” and Katy Perry’s “Dark Horse” (hanging tough after 34 weeks on the chart), a pair of Iggy Azalea tracks and the come-from-behind fourth single from the latest Paramore album are giving things a bit of a refresh....