The woodsman

Intuit spotlights the work of barber who cut more than hair

02/17/2010

Art
Ulysses Davis spent most of his adult life cutting hair. Born in 1914, the Fitzgerald, Ga. native worked as a blacksmith’s assistant before migrating east with family to sleepy, historic Savannah, where he opened a neighborhood barbershop behind his home in the 1950s. The shop served a dual purpose, though. It was also Davis’ personal art gallery.
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The Cabinet is open ... again

Redmoon Theater revives a past wonder for its birthday celebration

02/10/2010

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Robert Wiene’s silent classic from 1919, is one of the most stylish and influential films ever produced. It’s also one of the creepiest. A hallmark of German Expressionism, the film is a nightmare of off-kilter, exaggerated scenery and extreme chiaroscuro, where a gaunt somnambulist commits murder while under the manipulative hands of an insane asylum director.
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A fine cold day

02/03/2010

Brian Skonesey and his dog, Ace, pull a sled full of kids last Sunday during Snow Days Chicago, free three-day winter festival in Grant Park.
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Indy radio

Going live with a new community station

01/27/2010

Radio
A new independent, community-focused radio station went live on the Web from studios in the North Center neighborhood on Jan. 17. The Chicago Independent Radio Project conceived the station in July 2007, and it has taken 120 volunteers of all ages, a pool of independent donors and approximately $60,000 to fund and produce the nonprofit, music-based station.
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One roof, many options

Grazing at the French Market

01/20/2010

Dining
The minds behind Chicago’s new French Market, the 15,000-square-foot space that opened in the Ogilvie Transportation Center last December, have chosen a rather aspirational name for the venue, enforced by the piped-in soundtrack of Edith Piaf and the Amélie theme.
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Hit the floor

New documentary goes inside the Chicago Board of Trade

01/13/2010

The Chicago Board of Trade is a mystifying place: an arena of bodies clad in multicolor jackets screaming at each other and gesticulating rapid-fire while rainbows of ascending and descending numbers flash on electronic screens overhead. There is an aura of an out-of-control circus. Amidst this madness, fortunes are made and lost in an instant.
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Viva Italia

Italian cinema in transition at the Museum of Contemporary Art

01/06/2010

The Museum of Contemporary Art presents an interesting survey of Italian cinema this month with the Italics Film Series, a program running in conjunction with “Italics: Italian Art between Tradition and Revolution 1968-2008,” the museum’s current showcase exhibit.
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Conquering the cult of Karyn

Cold days and raw food? It can work

12/30/2009

Dining
Coming off a meat- and cheese-laden holiday week, dining at a vegan, raw food restaurant seemed the perfect antidote. But on a snowy night, when more comfort food is what I craved, an uncooked meal served cold didn’t sound appetizing. Somehow I managed to drag myself to Karyn’s Raw in Lincoln Park last Sunday, however.
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Let's go out to the movies

12/23/2009

Web Extra! Slideshow
The ShowPlace Icon Theatre opened last week in the South Loop, inside of the Roosevelt Collection development at 150 W. Roosevelt. Moviegoers packed the theater for its debut, taking in skyline views in the VIP room and later munching free popcorn.
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Raw and ingenious

Lookingglass takes on a classic Greek myth

12/16/2009

In a single act, Lookingglass Theater Company’s new production of “Icarus” burns through a primer’s worth of classical mythology, from the crowning of King Aegeus to the fall of the show’s title character, fleshed out with the raw and ingenious physicality of its six-person cast.
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