The Five

Don’t-miss picks for Wednesday, April 16 through Tuesday, April 22

1 Steppenwolf Garage Rep

Theatre: This week is your last chance to catch three original works from the Steppenwolf Garage Rep program–New Colony’s reWilding Genius, Prologue Theatre’s Saturday Night/Sunday Morning, and Walkabout Theater’s The Wild.
Through 4/20. $20–$45. Steppenwolf Garage Theatre, 1624 N Halsted. steppenwolf.org

2 John Cale

Rock: The cofounder of the Velvet Underground is in town. Do you really need more info?
4/17 at 8. $33–$35. Old Town School of Folk Music, 4544 N Lincoln. oldtownschool.org

3 Mike Epps

Comedy: Always the highlight in otherwise lackluster black rom-coms, the jovial standup shares his brand of “grown and sexy” comedy.
4/19 at 8. $90.75. Arie Crown Theater, 2301 Lakeshore. ticketmaster.com

4 Record Store Day

Festivals: Cop some vinyl as part of this national celebration of independent record stores. Here’s a handy guide to some popular local stores.
4/19. Various prices and locations. recordstoreday.com

5 An American in Paris

Classical: Veteran conductor Leonard Slatkin leads the CSO as it plays one of Gershwin’s most famous pieces.
4/17–4/22. $31–$217. Symphony Center, 220 S Michigan. cso.org

What I’m Doing This Weekend

Up next in our series of weekend plans from notable, in-the-know locals—a.k.a. people we like: Andrew Huff, editor-in-chief of Gaper’s Block and founder of 20×2 Chicago. 20×2 takes place on Saturday, April 19 at 6:30 p.m.

“Friday, I’m hoping to go to Big Jones. It’s really good comfort food with a contemporary twist that also pulls on historic Southern recipes. It has an excellent cocktail program.

“Saturday, I’ll be hitting Laurie’s Planet of Sound for Record Store Day. It’s not far from my house and Laurie’s has a great selection of new and used vinyl.

“Saturday, I’ll be grabbing coffee close to Schubas at Asado. Then it’s time for 20×2. The basic concept is that we have one question all 20 speakers are asked. They get the question ahead of time. They can answer in any way they want. I’m looking forward to Mig Reyes; he’s a former designer at Threadless and a really great speaker on design topics and creativity. Britt Julious is a local freelance writer and a fashion maven of sorts. She was in our last one and she did this great skewering of people that had done her wrong; I’m curious to see what she’s going to do this time.

“I’m really excited about Steve Delahoyde; he’s a local filmmaker, but we happen to be the show that he doesn’t do a film for. He’s just really funny and has an unusual wit.

“I particularly like cocktails, so I may head up to Ward Eight after the show. It’s a relatively new cocktail lounge, and they do really great, classic cocktails.

“Sunday, I will likely go see Eleventh Dream Day at the Hideout as part of their monthlong residency.” —As told to Tomi Obaro

Freebie of the Week

Sasha Frere Jones

Readings: The New Yorker’s pop music critic comes to town for a reading.
4/19 at 3. Free. Corbett vs. Dempsey, 1120 N Ashland. corbettvsdempsey.com