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Now that I’ve cleared my throat, let me explain: I was torn about spelling out in print all six letters of the hate-filled N-word. I don’t like saying it in mixed company. That means around white people, even at rap concerts. They stood behind Pritzker and offered forgiveness that suggests to a lot of people-white people, that is-that they too should get a pass for sneaky racism so long as they don’t speak in vicious racial slurs....

Eviction Since March, the federal, state, and local versions of an eviction moratorium have kept thousands in their homes. While typically there are some 20,000 eviction cases filed every year, as of December 14, only about 6,600 eviction cases have been filed against Chicago residential and commercial tenants—and 65 percent of those cases were initiated before the governor issued his first moratorium. I’ve been dropping into seminars and discussions hosted by local landlord groups....

Rentat Theo Ubique 773-347-1109 theo-u.com/rent Runner-Up: The Hairy Ape at Oracle Theatre

Ryan Powers ryanpowersmusic.com Runner-Up: Daniel Knox

Author’s note: since the publication of this article, two new Black Chicago theater leaders have been brought to my attention—Arlicia McLain, the artistic director at Halcyon Theatre, and Myesha-Tiara McGarner with the newly-formed Perceptions Theatre Company. As she takes the helm, one of her biggest challenges is grappling with COVID and the safety of returning to live performance. Selemon says, “We are never going to jump the gun on something like that....

Since 2007, Los Angeles rapper Blu has dispensed more than a dozen albums indebted to hip-hop’s golden age, and on his releases with producer Exile, his garrulous style finds a firm footing. The duo’s third effort, the double disc Miles: From an Interlude Called Life (Dirty Science), spans the globe and the history of the African diaspora. The nine-minute epic “Roots of Blu” tells the story of humanity through the accomplishments of Black folks, name-checking the likes of Tutankhamun, W....

Since 2004 Plastic Crimewave (aka Steve Krakow) has used the Secret History of Chicago Music to shine a light on worthy artists with Chicago ties who’ve been forgotten, underrated, or never noticed in the first place. Older strips are archived here.

No, there is no vegan sausage on the menu at Boonie Foods, but I wasn’t the first person to imagine there was. Vigan longganisa is actually an exception to the general profile of Ilocano food, which Fontelera says, “in my experience is a lot more simply prepared compared to any other region in the Philippines. It’s very technique-driven versus being ingredient heavy.” “I wanted to put my best foot forward with this,” he says....

Jazz-related music rarely gets any sort of mainstream hype these days, and it’s gratifying when one of the figures attracting wide attention outside of the jazz press actually deserves it. British reedist Shabaka Hutchings, a dynamo rooted in jazz, is an agile and curious musician who spreads his soulfully biting improvisation across wildly disparate projects. Last year he made his local debut at the Chicago Jazz Festival, playing in a band led by veteran South African drummer Louis Moholo-Moholo, where he extrapolated dancing solos sparked by free-jazz exploration and fueled by kwela melodies....

The whole stomach was also a bit of a departure from the traditional ponce: pig stomach isn’t particularly easy to find in Chicago, and the only ones the chefs could get had already been cut open. “They sort of quilted the stomach together,” Kim says, to try to re-create what a whole stomach would look like. “It looks like some Lord of the Rings-esque grandmother made it,” Kim says. “I don’t even know if it’s all from the same pig, honestly....

What a difference a year makes. But in the wake of Donald Trump’s surprise victory over Hillary Clinton in the presidential election, there’s a renewed sense of urgency among activists to ensure city and federal officials follow through on improvements. In a statement associated with the Black Friday boycott, activists with CAARPR called COPA “another mayor-appointed layer of bureaucracy designed to justify police crimes.” Jeff Baker, leader of @NAARPR, teaching us why @VictoriasSecret is a target of #CPACBOYCOTT_NOV25 pic....

Chicago Truborn 1741 W. Chicago 773-420-9764 chicagotruborn.com Runner-Up: David Weinberg

The Hoyle Brothers Lawrence Peters Outfit Finalists: Blind Adam & the Federal League, Glad Rags

Matt Roan djmattroan.com Runner-Up: Zebo

Jameson Loves Danger Urban Pooch Finalists: Wigglyville, Bentley’s Pet Stuff, Ruff Haus

Young Chicago Authors Poetry Foundation 

The Second City Runner-Up: Hitch*Cocktails

Since 2004 Plastic Crimewave (aka Steve Krakow) has used the Secret History of Chicago Music to shine a light on worthy artists with Chicago ties who’ve been forgotten, underrated, or never noticed in the first place. Older strips are archived here.

Austin quintet Temple of Angels have been flying low under the radar since they dropped their self-titled debut EP in 2017, but they’ve cut their way out of the undergrowth of a dark postpunk forest to build a following through touring and judicious festival bookings, including SXSW and Austin Terror Fest. Last year’s full-length Foiled (released on cassette and digitally) shows the young band finding their footing and developing an organic, jagged-but-ethereal sound....

Beauty and the Beast Married performance artists Julie Atlas Muz and Mat Fraser, billing themselves as Oneofus, spend a none-too-subtle evening drawing parallels between the titular 18th-century fairy tale and their own romantic relationship. Muz, a burlesque performer and onetime Miss Coney Island, is the beauty, while Fraser, a self-described disability artist with thalidomide-induced phocomelia (he calls his arms “small and perfectly deformed”) is, discomfitingly, the beast. For 80 minutes they alternately enact the fairy tale, ably assisted by clever puppetry and cunning scenic design, and recount the course of their romance....