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courtesy the candidate Amy Crawford Amy Crawford’s run for 46th Ward alderman has been a long time coming. A resident of the ward for nearly a decade, she has long been involved in community and advocacy groups supporting childhood education and LGBT rights. In 2008 she took time off from her clerkship with a federal judge to work on Obama’s campaign, which she says was an exciting and transformational time that ignited a political fire....

For years Jack Red and his distinctive voice have been the secret ingredient in Chicago’s new soul-infused, experimental hip-hop sound. His supporting vocals work their magic on the upbeat “Lovely Day” from Vic Mensa’s 2013 mixtape, Innanetape, and in 2015 he was part of the all-star cast that joined Donnie Trumpet and Chance the Rapper on the masterful album Surf. You can hear Red flex his range on “Wanna Be Cool” and “Sunday Candy,” the latter of which he performed with Chance on Saturday Night Live last year....

Last week, University of Illinois professor emeritus Cary Nelson was getting ready to travel to Washington for the annual meeting of the American Association of University Professors, where he expected to be a minority voice in support of the university’s decision to retract a job offer to professor Steven Salaita. According to Salaita’s contract, his appointment was contingent on approval by the university board of trustees. There wasn’t any specified date for that, and as it turned out, the board didn’t get around to voting on it until September 11, 2014—nearly a month after he was slated to report to campus....

If you just looked at the pedigree of Baltimore five-piece Angel Dust (often styled with a dollar sign in place of the S) you might think they were a hardcore group—Justice Tripp and Dan Fang also play in Trapped Under Ice and Turnstile, respectively, two of their city’s best-known contemporary hardcore bands. And they initially had a strong handle on the style, but they’ve since polished their rough, explosive punk sound to be almost unrecognizably sleek....

Kozy’s Cyclery various locations kozy.com Runner-Up: Uptown Bikes

The Dill Pickle Food Co-Op HarvesTime Foods Finalists: Morse Fresh Market, Local Foods

The Book of Mormon Bank of America Theatre bookofmormonbroadway Runner-Up: Airline Highway

No libretto survives from the first hip-hop opera, written in Berlin in 1788, but Got Me Under Prussia is believed to have been performed by a bewigged ensemble led by MC Frederick the Competent. Luckily, the art form has advanced significantly since then! Chicago Fringe Opera first presented The Rosina Project, a modern retelling of Rossini’s The Barber of Seville, this May as part of the Pivot Arts Festival. Gossip Wolf heartily recommends the production, which features old-school boom-bap from talented local rappers (including Pinqy Ring and K....

Welcome to the Reader‘s morning briefing for Friday, February 5, 2016. Enjoy your weekend! Sun-Times, Reader owner buys large stake in the Tribune Chicago’s two rival daily newspapers now have an owner in common. Sun-Times and Reader owner Michael Ferro purchased a 16.6 percent stake in Tribune Publishing through his investment firm Merrick Media. The purchase makes him the company’s single largest shareholder. [USA Today] [Chicago Reader]

Leor Galil, Reader staff writer Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck I’ve suffered from Nirvana fatigue for at least a decade, so I never expected to like—or even watch—this new documentary on the life of Kurt Cobain. I gave it a shot after realizing it was the work of Brett Morgen, who codirected The Kid Stays in the Picture; he avoids hagiography and makes Nirvana’s rise feel improbable instead of inevitable....

Riot Fest Pitchfork Finalists: Lollapalooza, Square Roots

There are almost too many events to pick from in Chicago this weekend, but these are the ones that top the Reader‘s list: Sat 8/13: It’s all fun and games at Bit Bash, Chicago’s alternative games festival. Organizers from the altruistic Indie City Collective have transformed a Fulton Market warehouse (1215 W. Fulton) into a giant arcade and gamer’s wonderland, showcasing over 50 international games. 2-10 PM For more stuff to do this weekend—and every day—check out our Agenda page....

In Chicago there’s simply no reason for anyone to eat stale tortillas. Visit nearly any carniceria and root around in the boxes in front of the meat counter and you’re bound to put your mitts on some still-warm packages from that morning’s delivery from the tortilleria. El Comalito 5 Rabanitos Ixcateco Grill Topolobampo Xoco Takito Kitchen

On a Sunday afternoon in early April, feeling trapped at home and desperate for a dose of glamour, I threw together the sexiest outfit/attitude I could muster and tuned into an online dance workshop I’d heard about on Instagram. I needed to get my blood moving and I couldn’t handle any more drizzly, chilly walks around the same few city blocks, avoiding eye contact with neighbors masked and unmasked. Feels like ages ago....

For anyone interested in a whole range of issues, from women’s rights to collegiate culture to the state of American journalism, the story at the heart of Calamity West‘s Rolling was a big deal. The November 19, 2014, issue of Rolling Stone magazine featured “A Rape on Campus,” Sabrina Rubin Erdely’s report on allegations made to her by a University of Virginia student called “Jackie,” who said she’d been lured into an upstairs room at the local Phi Kappa Psi fraternity house and gang-raped as part of an initiation rite....

Ten years ago, in honor of Chicago’s own Barack Obama’s presidential inauguration, the Chicago Reader became the Obama Reader. “By now, just about everybody’s got a Barack Obama story,” Mick Dumke wrote. “The Reader has been collecting more substantial stories than mine about Obama since 1995, when it ran what might be the first in-depth profile of the young politician. On the eve of his inauguration, we thought we’d share with our readers (and those of our D....

The 50th year of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians With the exception of the anniversary of my marriage, I tend to be pretty ambivalent about such celebrations—they happen every year, after all. But the achievements of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) since its foundation in 1965 are so monumental and lasting that any attempt to salute the work the organization produces today tends to lead directly into praise for its past....