Luminarium at Redmoon’s Festival J.O.E.
BOUNCE RATE Put a little spring in your step: Wander through the Luminarium (above) at Redmoon’s Festival J.O.E.

THE FIVE

Don’t-miss picks for Wed 09.01.10 through Tue 09.07.10:

1

concerts Jazz Club Tour
In a year that’s witnessed the unfortunate demise of an ambitious new venue (Club Blujazz) and the imperiled future of a legendary creative outpost (the late Fred Anderson’s beloved South Side Velvet Lounge), this trolley tour of the city’s jazz rooms—all in one night, no less—couldn’t come at a better time. Jazz hounds can purchase a pass at any club along the route, which stretches from the Green Mill in Uptown to Red Pepper’s Masquerade Lounge in Burnside.
GO: Sep 1 at 7. $25-$30. Details: jazzinchicago.org
2

theatre Jailbait
Two precocious 15-year-olds, two depressed 30-something men, one boozy night at the bar. What could go wrong? Profiles’ reliably excellent Joe Jahraus plumbs the disturbing possibilities in Deirdre O’Connor’s drama.
GO: Previews thru Sep 1; regular run continues through Oct 17. $15-$35. Profiles Theatre, 4147 N Broadway. profilestheatre.org
3

theatre Festival J.O.E.: A Joyous Outdoor Event
In conjunction with the Metro, the local spectacle specialist Redmoon Theater presents storytellers, buskers, and live musicians roving the southern shore of Belmont Harbor. If you’ve never journeyed through the Luminarium before, now’s your chance.
GO: Sep 2-6. $15-25. Redmoon Theater at Belmont and the lake. redmoon.org

ALSO THIS WEEK: Part avant-garde theatre happening, part excuse to wander Pilsen wide eyed while chomping on ribs from official food sponsor Honky Tonk BBQ, the inaugural Chicago Fringe Festival aims to foster a local environment for the international fringe movement.

4

museums Mammoths and Mastodons: Titans of the Ice Age
Labor Day weekend marks your last chance to ooh and ah over Lyuba, the 42,000-year-old preserved baby mammoth discovered by a Siberian reindeer herder in 2007, before this exhibition makes like the animals on display. Also worth an ogle: skulls, tusk, teeth, and North American mammoth bones collected by William Clark (of Lewis and) for the former Paleontology Buff in Chief Thomas Jefferson.
GO: Closing Sep 6. Open daily 9-5; Sep 3-5 from 9 to 6. $12-$29. Field Museum, 1400 S Lake Shore. fieldmuseum.org
5

concerts Nelly Furtado
Sure, we get the North Shore pun, but we’re a little weirded out by all of those gigantic Ravinia ads proclaiming Furtado a “shore thing” (she’s a mom, for gosh sakes)—but not enough to skip this concert. Furtado whips together exuberant pop, world music, and hip-hop beats, then tops the meringue off with vocals in English and Spanish. What’s Labor Day weekend for if not a guilty pleasure?
GO: Sep 3 at 8. $27-$90. Lake Cook and Green Bay, Highland Park. ravinia.org

FREEBIES OF THE WEEK

concerts Chicago Jazz Festival
Despite a new sponsor (the suddenly ubiquitous jazz benefactor CareFusion) and a newly reconfigured schedule, this 32-year Labor Day mainstay forges ahead without cutting corners on talent. In addition to Nicole Mitchell (Fri at 7:10) and a 75th-birthday bash for our 2009 Chicagoan of the Year Ramsey Lewis (Fri at 8:30), highlights include afternoon sets from a pair of dynamic drummers/bandleaders—the Chicagoan Dana Hall with the trumpeter Nicholas Payton (Sat at 3:30) and Brian Blade (Sun at 3:30)—as well as a powerhouse lineup in the Petrillo Music Shell: the virtuosic pianist Brad Mehldau (Sun at 5); the hard-driving Chicago drummer Ted Sirota and his band, Rebel Souls (at 6:15); the resurgent saxophonist and flautist Henry Threadgill (at 7:20); and the Grammy-winning singer and former Chicagoan (not to mention Obama condo inheritor) Kurt Elling (at 8:30).
GO: Sep 2 from noon to 6:30; Sep 3-5 from noon to 9:30. Full schedule and locations: chicagojazzfestival.us

lit/lectures Bill Ayers
What, you don’t understand what’s wrong with the American education system? You need him to draw a picture? Fine. Bill Ayers, the UIC professor and education activist reads from his latest book, the graphic novel (yes, graphic novel) with illustrator Ryan Alexander-Tanner To Teach: The Journey, in Comics—just in time for back to school.
GO: Sep 2 at 7. Barbara’s Bookstore, 1218 S Halsted. barbarasbookstore.com

WHAT I’M DOING THIS WEEKEND

Up next in our new series of weekend plans from notable, in-the-know locals (a.k.a. people we like): Lilli Carré, the illustrator, animator, and graphic novelist . . .

“Right now I’m reading The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler, so I’ve been in hard-boiled detective mode lately. On Friday The Big Sleep, which is based on another of Chandler’s Philip Marlowe novels, is playing at the Gene Siskel Film Center. I really love the film, but I’ve never seen it in a theatre, so I’m excited about catching that. Also, I work at Bookworks bookstore on the weekends, but before I head in to work on Saturday I’m going to try to see Ben Russell’s 12 x 12 show at the MCA. He’s showing his new film Trypps #7 as a site-specific installation. I like his work, and I’m curious to see how he installs the piece in the space as opposed to how it would be viewed in a theatre. The opening for the show is on Friday, but since those MCA First Friday events are so packed and sweaty, I like to visit on a day when there are fewer people and I can really look at the work.”

• See The Big Sleep at the Siskel

• Take in Ben Russell’s 12 x 12 exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art

• Read Carré’s charming illustrated history of the 1855 raising of Chicago from our August issue

• See one of Carré’s short films, Head Garden, as part of the opening lineup for Lincoln Hall’s monthly movie night, The 3 Penny Was Here, with Chicagoan Chris Hefner’s The Pink Hotel as the night’s feature presentation. The program begins Sep 1 at 7; admission is free

Photograph: Todd Crawford