I like to imagine guitarist-vocalist Stephen Brodsky of Cave In and drummer Ben Koller of Converge—each an integral part of the early 2000s hardcore scene—shooting the breeze one afternoon about Robert Fripp side projects and figuring, what the hell, why not get together and jam at some point? Thing is . . . when you’re both hypertalented shredders with penchants for prog-metal exploration you don’t just noodle around for a snap, you build freak worlds of galloping Maiden-like rhythms, glam-metal vocal flourishes, and superriffs that morph from sludge to Slayer midheadbang....

Like Magic Mike XXL, Sean Baker’s Tangerine (currently playing at the Music Box Theatre) invokes American movies from the pretelevision era. The story is relatively inconsequential—an LA prostitute tracks down and confronts her two-timing lover and the woman with whom he was cheating on her—and the filmmakers don’t try to make it seem otherwise. They emphasize personality over plot, inviting viewers to bask in the star power of the lead performers (both of them larger-than-life personalities) and simply enjoy their company for an hour and a half....

Bernie Sanders growled while delivering the keynote speech at last weekend’s People Summit in Chicago: “Part of the problem is . . . nobody wants to hurt each other anymore.” Many pundits on the right jumped at the chance to punch left. From the American Spectator: Just four days before Hodgkinson’s attempt at a Franz Ferdinand-style kickoff to the revolution he suspected Sanders was asking for, the wild-haired semi-reformed Soviet sympathizer appeared at something called the People’s Summit in Chicago, delivering a broadside of calumnies and bromides so vicious as to sit right at home at a microphone in Caracas or Pyongyang or Havana....

The timing of the pre-Broadway world premiere of Tootsie, days after the Brett Kavanaugh hearing, is unfortunate. The play itself is interesting, cheeky, and all kinds of complicated. Directed by Tony veteran Scott Ellis, with book and score by Robert Horn and David Yazbek, respectively, this loose adaptation of the classic 1982 comedy brings everything to the present day except the main character Michael’s iconic drag costume. In the role made famous by Dustin Hoffman—who’s currently embroiled in #MeToo harassment allegations—Santino Fontana initially plays the character of Michael Dorsey as a narcissistic jerk whose pursuit of “truth” has alienated everyone on Broadway....

Q: I’m a woman in my late 40s. In my early 20s, I married a much older man. We did all the requisite things: kids, house, intercourse once a week. When the sex fell off due to his declining health, he surprised me by suggesting we open our marriage. He said I was too young to be limited and he didn’t want me to leave him for sex. I spent time contemplating how to truly fulfill my desires....

AP Photo/Sun-Times Media Guess who There are a few coincidental reasons for making Bob Dylan’s “Quinn the Eskimo” today’s 12 O’Clock Track. For one, today marks the release of The Bootleg Series Vol. 11: The Basement Tapes Complete, a six-disc box set containing the entirety of Dylan and the Band’s famous basement sessions recorded in 1967, during which they all produced the first known recording of “Quinn.” Then there’s Dylan’s three-show run in Chicago, beginning this Saturday (November 8) at the Cadillac Palace Theatre....

Aquanaut’s three regular-rotation beers will debut in cans, not bombers, so these labels are provisional. For a beer columnist, I don’t go to all that many beer festivals—I’m missing Sierra Nevada’s Beer Camp Across America at Navy Pier to write this, for instance. But I’ve made it to enough to have seen the name “Aquanaut”—and the name “Strange Pelican,” which is what this Chicago operation called itself until March, when it decided to change colors after legal threats by Pelican Pub & Brewery in Pacific City, Oregon....

This spring Linklater programmed a revival of Veronika Voss by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, one of his cinematic heroes. Read part one of this interview. So, that’s the industry. You can create your own world outside that too. That’s what I always wanted to do, just live in my own cinema universe and not think about shit like that. And to a large degree, that’s become true. I’m always kind of unnerved when my cinematic universe collides with the reality of the business side, but I just have to deal with it....

Anything Goes, the slapstick comedic musical that tells the tale of high jinks on an ocean liner and features some of Cole Porter’s most iconic music, has been revived by director Rudy Hogenmiller and the cast of Music Theater Works with a live orchestra. It’s retroactively become a sort of jukebox musical of jazz standards that have, in the past, been sung with improvisation and flair by the likes of Sinatra, Fitzgerald, Bennett, and Gaga....

Jim Newberry Harrison Bankhead A couple of years ago the venerable, versatile Chicago-area bassist Harrison Bankhead—a key force in Edward Wilkerson’s great 8 Bold Souls and a trusted collaborator of Ernest Dawkins, Hamid Drake, Fred Anderson, Dee Alexander, and Roscoe Mitchell, among others—finally stepped forward with a recording under his own leadership. Morning Sun Harvest Moon (Engine) was a hard-hitting, soulful jam that delivered an alchemical blend of lean-but-insinuating written themes and extended improvisation....

Earlier this month prolific multi-instrumentalist Nnamdi Ogbonnaya told MTV News that his new album, Drool (Sooper/Father Daughter), is his first indebted to his experience in Chicago, the city that’s come to represent home despite his lack of a deep emotional attachment to it. “I don’t think I feel that way about any place particularly,” Ogbonnaya said. “It’s just the people I’ve met make it worth staying here.” His music reflects his relationships to his physical surroundings and creative community; he collaborates with circles of musicians in punk, postrock, hardcore, and hip-hop groups, but it’s in his solo work that he’s most free-floating and unmoored as an artist....

I Have Always Been a Dreamer Good news for those who missed Sabine Gruffat’s inventive, unorthodox documentary I Have Always Been a Dreamer when it played at the Chicago Underground Film Festival in 2012. On Saturday the film returns to town as part of an all-night event called Dearest Chicago, Please Love Me! Yours Truly, Detroit. The Nightingale will host the event, which features three programs of experimental work shot in the Motor City over the past decade....

The 26th annual Abbie Hoffman Died for Our Sins Theatre Festival, a weekend of nonstop performances, kicks off this Friday with a 2 PM march from Daley Plaza to host Mary-Arrchie Theatre’s home at Angel Island in Lakeview. Named for Yippie leader Abbie Hoffman, who was arrested and tried as one of the Chicago Seven, the festival harkens back to a time before the NSA monitored our phone calls and Miley Cyrus scarred our eye tissue....

Now that the Lollapalooza and Pitchfork lineups are out, let’s take a swing at Riot Fest. Gossip Wolf predicts its bill will include Kansas City emo veterans the Get Up Kids, downstate shoegazers Hum, Minneapolis MC P.O.S, Michigan posthard­core kids La Dispute, grunge forefathers Mudhoney, Canadian indie-pop outfit Tokyo Police Club, Pennsylvania emo upstarts Balance & Composure, posi party dude Andrew W.K., beloved nerd rockers Weezer, vintner Maynard James Keenan and Tool, and postpunk legends Public Image Ltd....

Guitarist and soul singer Isaiah Sharkey has Chicago’s DNA in his veins—he lived in Cabrini-Green as a kid and sat in at the Velvet Lounge as a teenager. As an adult, he’s become an in-demand hired hand, playing on D’Angelo’s Grammy-winning 2014 masterpiece Black Messiah and bringing his blistering runs to John Mayer’s touring band. In 2017, he released his debut solo full-length, Love Life Live, an underappreciated album heavy on elegant Aquarian soul that features cameos by the likes of DJ Jazzy Jeff and Lalah Hathaway....

Smokepurpp is part of a class of young Florida rappers who’ve dragged hip-hop into the blistering sun to bake without sunscreen. Born in Chicago and raised in the Miami area, Smokepurpp has absorbed one of Chief Keef’s greatest lessons: there’s nothing wrong with ignoring hip-hop’s strict verse structure if it means you’re making music that feels alive. Smokepurpp skimps on bars, often half-forming his words as though he’s just woken up from a nap and is hazy about what’s coming out of his mouth....

Some of the music I write about in this space each Friday pushes well beyond what the average person might consider jazz, and there are times when I wouldn’t even try to make the argument myself. But jazz and its influence—via the practice of improvisation—has radiated widely, so that all kinds of sounds could theoretically boast some type of connection. When jazz first emerged in a century ago, the term often had nothing to do with improvisation but instead signified hot dance music, first in New Orleans and then in cities like Chicago and New York....

Courtesy of Mick Jenkins’s Facebook page Mick Jenkins On “THC,” the second song on Mick Jenkins’s brand-new The Water[s], the south-side rapper dissects his inspired mixtape concept: “Water is the most important natural component we have today. It makes up our world, our bodies. It has the ability to destroy and create. It is the healing component, THC.” Jenkins provides much of the reason for keeping The Water[s] on repeat....

Mezcal and other agave distillates (sotol, raicilla, bacanora) are becoming ever more prevalent. Forget about smoke and worms: it’s easy to become lost in the universe of these spirits’ unique flavor profiles and aromas, and in the different terroirs, plants, artisanal production methods, and personal stories behind the bottles. There’s plenty of industrial-grade mezcal on the market, but when it comes to the myriad of small-batch maestros whose distillates are making it north of the border in increasing volumes, you really need someone who’s been steeped in the spirit world to guide you....

The Tomorrow Never Knows festival has taken over a growing number of north-side venues every January for ten years now, bringing with it a wide variety of live music and (since 2012) comedy. The fest comes back bigger every time, and for 2014 it includes 22 shows in five days at Lincoln Hall, Schubas, Metro, Smart Bar, the Hideout, and the Athenaeum Theatre. Saturday’s big names are English soul-pop singer John Newman at Lincoln Hall with vocal duo Lady; baroque-pop ensemble San Fermin at Schubas on a four-act bill with local fingerstyle guitarist Ryley Walker, among others; veteran indie rockers Superchunk at Metro with Roomrunner and Split Single, and Hugo Ball at Smart Bar....