'Mythbusters' hosts Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage
MARCH MADNESS Steppenwolf's adaptation of E.L. Doctorow's The March begins
previews 4/5 and features seven Steppenwolf ensemble members, including Mariann
Mayberry, left, and Martha Lavey.

THE FIVE

Don’t-miss picks for Wed 4.04.12 through Tue 4.10.12:

1

theatre The March
Frank Galati (Ragtime) directs E.L. Doctorow’s intricate, brutal epic of William Tecumseh Sherman’s bloody march to the Atlantic—a scorched-earth Civil War campaign that burned a path of destruction through Georgia and turned the tide toward the Union effort. Consider this adaptation—starring seven Steppenwolf ensemble members, including Martha Lavey—Gone with the Wind’s reality check.
GO: Previews 4/5–14; $45. Regular run 4/15–6/10; $20–$78. Steppenwolf, 1650 N Halsted. steppenwolf.org

2

theatre Enfrascada
Tanya Saracho’s dark comedy of supernatural subterfuge starts with a trivial spell cast to bring a wayward lover into line. From there, things escalate into proportions as dangerous, macabre, and horrifying as they are humorous. Midnight trips to the cemetery and paychecks blown on magic potions? There could be trouble in paradise.
GO: Previews 4/5–7; $18. Regular run 4/8–5/12; $18. 16th Street Theater, 6420 16th, Berwyn. 16thstreettheater.org

3

folk Peggy Seeger
If folk royalty exists, Peggy Seeger is it. She’s the sister of Pete, daughter of the pioneering folklorist Charles, and widow of Ewan MacColl. More importantly: She’s a truly great songwriter and interpreter of American and Anglo-Irish tradition.
GO: 4/7 at 7. $16–$20. Old Town School of Folk Music, 4545 N Lincoln. oldtownschool.org

ALSO THIS WEEK: First Aid Kit, a duo of Swedish sisters, revives the country-rock and brooding folk sounds of the late 1960s at Lincoln Hall on 4/6.

4

jazz Chicago Jazz Ensemble
CJE’s artistic director, Dana Hall, and a small group of regulars explore the connections between jazz and literature with the poet Sonia Sanchez in a fitting setting—the library. The vocalist Dee Alexander joins in for two tunes.
GO: 4/6 at 7:30. $25. Cindy Pritzker Auditorium, Harold Washington Library, 400 S State. chicagojazzensemble.com

ALSO THIS WEEK: Chicago Jazz Orchestra returns to Pick-Staiger Concert Hall on 4/7 with the added exuberance of a special guest: the Cuban trumpeter Arturo Sandoval.

5

classical Steans Musicians
The young instrumentalists from Ravinia’s summer music conservatory play Beethoven’s Piano Trio in B-flat and the Chicagoan Bernard Rands’s second string quartet on 4/6. The next day, they reprise the Beethoven and the Rands—and throw in a Schubert string quintet.
GO: 4/6 at 8. $10–$25. Music in the Loft, 1017 W Washington, #4H. musicintheloft.org. 4/7 at 8. $10. Bennett Gordon Hall, Ravinia, Lake Cook at Green Bay, Highland Park. ravinia.org

WHAT I’M DOING THIS WEEKEND

Zach Medearis
Zach Medearis

Up next in our series of weekend plans from notable, in-the-know locals—a.k.a. people we like: Zach Medearis, the singer and guitarist for Outer Minds, a local garage-psych outfit that was recently showcased at SXSW in Austin. On 4/7 at The Empty Bottle, the band headlines a release party—with Mannequin Men, Summer Girlfriends, and Radar Eyes—for its first full-length record. The show starts at 10; admission is $8 at the door or free with RSVP at emptybottle.com.

Early Friday, I’ll be going into my recording space on Carroll and Sacramento to do some mixing for the record Outer Minds has coming up, probably in September. It’s going to be called Look Behind the Mirror or Behind the Mirror. It’s sixties garage and psych—similar to the [self-titled] LP we put out in March—but the music is definitely moving into a darker realm. Dissonance is always cooler than consonance. After that, I’ll probably get some lunch at Big Star or Arturo’s Tacos with my friend Todd from Hozac Records. Then I’ll be working at Very Best Vintage, which my girlfriend [Shanti Clark] owns. She’s running a one-woman shop, so I help her out whenever I can.

Saturday, I’m going to Horseshoe Casino in Hammond, Indiana for the bachelor party of one of my best friends. I don’t do casinos—what’s the point of wasting money that I barely have? But I’m doing it for [my friend]. Then I’m coming back, getting my gear, and heading to the show. Outer Minds is pretty good friends with the other bands. Our drummer, Ryan Costello, is married to the bass player in Summer Girlfriends, and we’ve played with Mannequin Men and Radar Eyes a couple times. We love those guys. With four bands, it’s a full night, but if we can drag ourselves anywhere after, we’ll probably go The Continental. It’s a bar we all hate yet love at the same time.

Sunday will probably be my day for regrets and apologies. That’s usually what I do on Sundays.

FREEBIE OF THE WEEK

galleries Russell Tyler
Add Tyler to the growing list of painters in the school of more is more—at least when it comes to applying paint to canvas. He squeezes a rainbow of oils directly from tubes or brushes them on in pasty globs. Werewolves, monsters, and other fantastical creatures appear to bubble up from the surface.
GO: 4/6–5/18. Ebersmoore, 350 N Ogden, Ste 100. ebersmoore.com

 

Photography: (THE MARCH) JOEL MOORMAN; (MEDEARIS) COURTESY OF CANDERSON/HOZAC RECORDS