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Laura Kelton (Sportsman’s Club) and Elizabeth Mickiewicz (EZ Inn) have a habit of ordering “a lot” of sushi when they’re together, Kelton says—and the sweet-and-sour sauce that comes with the crab rangoon is one of her favorite parts. So naturally, when Mickiewicz was choosing an ingredient that Kelton would have to use in a cocktail, she settled on sweet and sour sauce. Who’s next: Kelton has challenged Carly Gaskin of Celeste to create a cocktail with gas station pork rinds....

Welcome to the Reader‘s morning briefing for Tuesday, October 18, 2016. Strangers come together to bury the unclaimed body of a baby Around 75 people attended the funeral of Baby Jazlene Sunday, although none of them knew her during her short life. The Sun-Times chronicles the story of the infant, born premature, whose body went unclaimed at the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office after her death at University of Chicago Medical Center....

The Mercury Theater gives its new Venus Cabaret space a stellar launch with this engaging, imaginatively staged rendition of Stephen Sondheim and George Furth’s landmark 1970 concept musical. The cozy, nightclublike venue (carved out of the former Cullen’s Bar & Grill) brings out the best aspects of this revuelike collection of sketches and songs exploring the theme of marriage as partnership, for better and for worse. The show’s focus is on Robert, a 35-year-old bachelor, and his friendships with five heterosexual couples, whose complicated, competitive, sometimes combative relationships seem to provide Robert with prima facie evidence as to why he should avoid taking the plunge, even as his emotional isolation grows increasingly unbearable....

“Basically: if you’re selling art in the street, I’m going to buy it,” is the blunt way Daniel X. O’Neil summarizes his habit of documenting, purchasing, and otherwise archiving art made, sold, or placed in the public way. O’Neil’s years of walks around Chicago and other cities in search of articles of self-expression have culminated in his self-published book, Arte Agora. On a spring afternoon, a few Fridays back, O’Neil invited me to his place for a tour of his collection and a talk....

Mindy’s Hot Chocolate 1747 N. Damen 773-489-1747 hotchocolatechicago.com Runner-Up: Bang Bang Pie

With almost identical moonlit cover images and similarly intimate recordings of her cello, voice, and electronics, Judith Hammann’s two new albums are a matched set. Both releases present dialogues between the peripatetic Australian-born musician’s main instrument and her body. On the LP Shaking Studies, whose program she performed in Chicago two years ago, she activates her cello’s resonant frequencies, causing it to vibrate so vigorously that it shakes her body. Transferred to vinyl, these pulsing sounds still exert a powerful physical effect; “A Reading” hurtles like a locomotive, and the two-part “Pulse Study” oscillates among sounds that feel like they’re shaking different parts of your skeleton....

Tracy Letts Runner-Up: Ike Holter

Chicago Teachers Union SEIU Finalists: Roofers & Waterproofers Local 11, IATSE Local 769

Since last summer, it seems like the universe has been telling me to pay attention to Brittney Carter. I wasn’t familiar with the 27-year-old Chicago rapper at the time—from her first releases in 2016, she’d been simmering mostly out of sight, dropping occasional Soundcloud singles or appearing on other people’s tracks. Only in early 2018 did she start performing regularly at concerts rather than at open mikes. But she’s rapidly become one of Chicago hip-hop’s best-kept secrets, earning the backing of a broad cross section of the local arts scene....

E! Elizabeth Hurley (center) is the queen of being not nice. For longer than any of us would prefer to remember, E! (the network that shouts entertainment at you) has been bringing into our living rooms the “true” stories of real-life “famous” people, some horrible, others tragic (RIP, Anna Nicole), and plenty more of them a little bit of both. How many shows have the Kardashians been given at this point?...

If you’re headed to the fourth floor of the Cultural Center for a look at the work of Charles Harrison and the rest of the “African American Designers in Chicago” exhibit (it closes March 3), here’s a suggestion: leave enough time for a stop on the second floor to see “Cecil McDonald, Jr.: In the Company of Black.” This photography exhibit takes Harrison’s aesthetic of everyday beauty to another level. Actually, leave a chunk of time—these images are likely to grab and hold you....

ARTIST: Scott Williams SHOW: Soul Summit at East Room on Sat 3/17 MORE INFO: scottwilliamsdesign.com

A manual for Cleaning Womenby Lucia Berlin Runner-Up: On the Isle of Sound and Wonder by Alyson Grauer Runner-Up: On the Isle of Sound and Wonder by Alyson Grauer Runner-Up: On the Isle of Sound and Wonder by Alyson Grauer

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DIY space Situations has been around since 2010—long enough that it’s hard to remember Chicago without it. But at the end of October, this Logan Square hub for uncompromising underground art and music will shut down—the landlord is selling the building, and the current tenants have to vacate. Residents and organizers will say farewell with a 24-hour virtual Halloween blowout that starts at 12 AM on Saturday, October 31, and ends at 12 AM on November 1....

Jeppson’s Malört KOVAL Distillery Finalist: Rhine Hall Distillery

Rogers Park Uptown Finalists: Pilsen, Albany Park, Hyde Park

The 1973 Broadway hit A Little Night Music is the third in a string of innovative musicals that composer-lyricist Stephen Sondheim and director Harold Prince created in the 70s. The first two shows, Company and Follies, had offered a skeptical, even depressing view of middle-aged married life. In Night Music, Sondheim, Prince, and playwright Hugh Wheeler took a lighter approach. Based on filmmaker Ingmar Bergman’s 1955 Smiles of a Summer Night, this is a wryly comic yet wistfully sentimental tale of sexual intrigue, complete with that rarity in the Sondheim canon: a happy ending....