Redmoon's latest extravaganza, Spectacle '09, runs through Sunday at Belmont Harbor.
OVER THE MOON Redmoon’s latest extravaganza runs through Sunday at Belmont Harbor.

THE FIVE

Don’t-miss picks for Wed 09.09.09 through Tue 09.15.09:

1

concert Spectacle ’09
It’s a concert! It’s a theatrical event! Eh, we’re not sure what to call it: It’s Redmoon. Chicago’s premiere producer of fantastical happenings unleashed its new spectacle on the lakefront last weekend, a vision of mechanical props and otherworldly characters set to a live concert by the singer Laarna Cortaan (herself from another planet: Norway). Whatever it is, don’t miss its final few dates.
GO: Sep 10-13 at 7. $10-$15. Southern end of Belmont Harbor, south of Belmont at the lake. redmoon.org
2

farrago Chicago Underground Film Festival
The Gene Siskel Film Center certainly isn’t as under-the-radar as some of CUFF’s prior hosts, but that’s not to say this scrappy fest is losing street cred. In its 16th year, CUFF remains a picture of indie ingenuity, with screenings including a 40th anniversary showing of Gold, starring the late, great Chicago improv king Del Close, and American Radical: The Trials of Norman Finkelstein, on the controversial former DePaul prof.
GO:Sep 10-17. $10 per film. Gene Siskel Film Center, 164 N State. siskelfilmcenter.org
3

dance Eat to the Beat
So cheap, it just missed getting listed under "Freebies": The first installment of this new lunchtime series at the Harris features a dance performance from Danceworks Chicago, plus live music by the Chicago folk trio Sons of the Never Wrong. If only lunch itself was this budget-friendly.
GO: Sep 15 at noon. $5. Harris Theater, 205 E Randolph. harristheaterchicago.org
4

concert The Minus 5/The Baseball Project/The Steve Wynn IV
Here’s your chance to see R.E.M.’s Peter Buck in a venue smaller than some arena’s broom closets. The backstory: Buck and fellow musician Scott McCaughey, who together record classic pop with a rotating cast of high-wattage musicians under the band name The Minus 5, teamed up with the terrific garage rocker Steve Wynn and the drummer Linda Pitmon for a 2008 concept album devoted to—wait for it—baseball. They’ll play those songs, in addition to other material, here.
GO: Sep 11 at 9. $18.50-$20. Martyrs’, 3855 N Lincoln. martyrslive.com
5

theatre Fake
Gather Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, a skull full of secrets, a suffragette, and a crackpot Jesuit in one room, and what do you have? Clue for the Mensa set. Also, Oscar winner Eric Simonson’s new play.
GO: Previews Sep 10-19; $20-$48. Regular run: $20-$70. Steppenwolf Theatre, 1650 N Halsted. steppenwolf.org

FREEBIES OF THE WEEK

farrago Granta Issue Launch
Those Brits know a good story when they hear it. Granta magazine, a London-based lit rag, has dedicated its entire Volume 108 to Chicago, with new essays, stories, poems, and art from the likes of current and past locals Stuart Dybek, Sandra Cisneros, and Alex Kotlowitz. WBEZ’s Steve Edwards hosts a kickoff chat with contributing writers Audrey Niffenegger, the author of a little book called The Time Traveler’s Wife, and Aleksandar Hemon, the MacArthur fellow and National Book Award finalist for The Lazarus Project. Want to snag a seat? Take a hint from Time Traveler and go early—like yesterday.
GO: Sep 14 at 6. Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E Washington. 312-744-7097

farrago Nami Mun
Or leave the big names to the masses and catch a reading, signing, and Q & A with the city’s next-gen lit star. We named Mun Chicago’s best new novelist on the strength of her first book, Miles from Nowhere, about a Korean American runaway struggling to survive on the streets of 1980s New York. Seems like others agree: Mun has been shortlisted for the Orange Award for New Writers.
GO: Sep 9 at 7:30. Women and Children First, 5233 N Clark. 773-769-9299

theatre Alan Infinitum
One troupe’s trash is another troupe’s treasure. The provocative Dog & Pony Theatre Company (whose 2008 premiere of As Told by the Vivian Girls and 2009 production of God’s Ear both generated ample buzz) stages a reading of this castoff from the House Theatre’s season, a contemporary twist on The Three Faces of Eve.
GO: Sep 14 at 7. Threewalls Gallery, 119 N Peoria, #2D. dogandponychicago.org

ET CETERA

No matter whether you’re for or against efforts to bring the Olympics to Chicago, you can still make good on Sunday’s Back the Bid push. On September 13th, Chicago Symphony Orchestra will offer a limited number of tickets to selected concerts in its 2009-2010 main series season for $20.16 (the same price gets you a seat on the Chicago Architecture Foundation’s September 13th tour of potential Olympic sites). While we’re not quite sure how the symphony factors into, say, pole vaulting, we’re happy to capitalize on a good deal.

illustration: Sean Williams