
OUT ON A LIMB In this week’s appendage news: Hubbard Street dancers stretch
theirs at the Harris (above); Darrell W. Cox searches for his in A Behanding in
Spokane, (details below).
THE FIVE
Don’t-miss picks for Wed 10.12.11 through Tue 10.18.11:
1 |
theatre A Behanding in Spokane ALSO THIS WEEK: Imagine the freak-show addictiveness of TV’s Nip/Tuck merged with the existential heft of Kafka: In Sideshow Theatre Company’s The Ugly One, Seth Bockley directs a brainy look at a skin-deep world. See it through 11/20 at Oracle Theatre. |
2 |
dance Hubbard Street Dance Chicago ALSO THIS WEEK: The contemporary-minded Joffrey goes against type and stages the 19th-century ballet Don Quixote—except, of course, this being the Joffrey, with lots of stylish tweaks courtesy of the former Bolshoi dancer turned choreographer Yuri Possokhov. See the result 10/12–23 at Auditorium Theatre. Meanwhile David Gordon, that New York master of stripped-down dance theatre, presents the low-tech Dancing Henry Five, featuring the famed ballet/Broadway vet Robert La Fosse, 10/13–15 at The Dance Center of Columbia College. |
3 |
rock/pop Matthew Sweet ALSO THIS MONTH: Portishead brings its spooky funk to the Aragon 10/12 as part of the band’s first tour since 1998, and Baaba Maal, who transformed Senegalese village melodies into Afropop, becoming one of the genre’s first international stars, plays the Old Town School of Folk Music 10/16. |
4 |
museums Lunar |
5 |
film True Horror Film Panel ALSO THIS WEEK: The director Kimberly Peirce (Boys Don’t Cry) hosts a screening of the film that changed her life, The Godfather, 10/16 at the Music Box, and the South Side native John C. Reilly talks about his oeuvre 10/12 as part of the Chicago International Film Festival. |
WHAT I’M DOING THIS WEEKEND

Kevin Byrne
Up next in our series of weekend plans from notable, in-the-know locals—a.k.a. people we like: the former Blue Man, Chicago marathon runner, and digital media analyst Kevin Byrne, who opened up about his final weekend of freedom before moving into the Museum of Science and Industry to become its second-annual 24/7 live-in lodger, 10/20–11/17. Follow his Month at the Museum escapades on Twitter and Facebook.
“Friday I’m joining some Northwestern grad school friends at a friend’s place in River North, and I was promised some dancing and fist pumping on Hubbard Street after.
“With the marathon over, this weekend won’t consist of training, which is nice because I’ll have a lot of free time. Saturday I’m really excited to attend Open House Chicago [see “Freebies,” below]. For as many times as I’ve passed Lake Point Tower, I don’t have a sense of how it looks inside. Also, the Chicago Motor Club is a really cool old skyscraper that I want to peek inside of, and the same goes for the Seventeenth Church of Christ, Scientist. I’m dragging my partner along with me. It’ll be some good time spent together before I leave.
“Saturday night, I have a gift card to Cafe Ba-Ba-Reeba that we’ll use to celebrate our sixth anniversary. Afterward, we’ll join some friends at a bar in my neighborhood, Big Chicks in Uptown. I feel like they should have a drink named after me—eh, on second thought, that would probably be a losing proposition for them.
“Sunday is dedicated to getting last-minute things for my move in. One thing that’s a must is a bathrobe. I’ve never owned one and was told I’ll need it at the museum since the shower is far from where I’ll be staying. I’m trying to avoid scaring anyone off by walking around in a towel.” —As told to Heather Youkhana
FREEBIES OF THE WEEK
classical Susanna MÄlkki
You could hear the conductor—who took the country by storm in a series of impressive 2010 gigs with the National Symphony Orchestra, the LA Phil, and more—when she leads the CSO in works by Ives, Strauss, and Thea Musgrave. For $207. Or you could hear her when she turns her baton to Schumann’s Third, as interpreted by the Civic Orchestra. For free. Your choice.
GO: Civic Orchestra of Chicago: 10/17 at 8. Symphony Center, 220 S Michigan. cso.org
tours Open House Chicago
Remember Great Chicago Places and Spaces? This weekend of behind-the-scenes access to iconic locales is a lot like that—maybe better. Just some of the 100-plus free VIP-for-all peeks scheduled: inside the Crown Fountain, the Chicago Temple’s lofty Sky Chapel, the original Marshall Field’s boardroom, the Monadnock’s penthouse carpentry shop, Lake Point Tower’s rooftop garden, backstage at the Pritzker Pavilion, a taping of Jesse Jackson’s broadcast at Operation Rainbow PUSH, and Frank Lloyd Wright’s usually closed-to-the-public Emil Bach House. Whew. All tours are first come, first served—so go early.
GO: 10/15–16. See website for full schedule and details: openhousechicago.org
lit/lectures Rachel Shteir
A scintillating new history of shoplifting, The Steal retails for $25.95, but hearing its author and the DePaul prof Shteir discuss the still-fascinating cases of Winona Ryder and Hedy Lamarr? That’s a—well, you know.
GO: 10/12 at 7:30: Women & Children First, 5233 N Clark. womenandchildrenfirst.com. 10/25 at 6: 57th Street Books, 1301 E 57th. semcoop.indiebound.com/57th-street-books
Photograph: (HUBBARD STREET) Todd Rosenberg