Events on Friday, September 12

Junot Díaz

Books: Reading

Junot Díaz

Friday 9/12 @ Harold Washington Library

It took more than ten years, but Junot Díaz finally exceeded those huge, Drown-inspired expectations with last year's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel... 

Dianogah w/ Pinebender

Music

Dianogah

Friday 9/12 @ Bottom Lounge

If you weren't around for the halcyon days of Chicago post-rock, Dianogah might seem like a footnote in some long-passed history.... 

<em>A Magical Vision</em>

Film: Documentary

A Magical Vision

Friday 9/12 @ Gene Siskel Film Center

Before it evolved (or, rather, devolved) into David Blaine's "endurance art" stunts and Criss Angel's gimmicky Las Vegas illusions, magic melded... 

Busdriver w/ Henry Flynt and Ecstatic Sunshine

Music: Experimental

Henry Flynt

Friday 9/12 @ The Empty Bottle

The criminally underappreciated bluegrass experimentalist and philosopher Henry Flynt was the first hillbilly to embrace the space-age hoedown. Single-handedly pushing old-timey... 

The Walkmen w/ Golem

Music

The Walkmen

Friday 9/12 @ Metro

Few bands boast the closeness of the Walkmen: featuring former members of the Recoys and Jonathan Fire*Eater, the five-piece coalition has... 

Holy Fuck w/ the Poison Arrows

Music: Electronic

Holy Fuck

Friday 9/12 @ Subterranean

The bawdily named Holy Fuck are know for their rapturous live performances, tweezing dark Kraut disco from two giant flight-case jumbles... 

Ongoing Events

Stan Shellabarger: <em>Walking Books</em>

Art

Stan Shellabarger: Walking Books

Friday 9/12 @ Western Exhibitions

Artist Stan Shellabarger repeats mundane actions over and over again, turning them into extreme undertakings. For his second show at Western... 

<em>I Served the King of England</em>

Film

I Served the King of England

Friday 9/12 @ Landmark Century Centre Cinema

Screenwriter/director Jirí Menzel translates this tale of a Czech waiter working through both the Nazi and communist regimes from a novel... 

<em>Art of Democracy</em>

Art

Art of Democracy

Friday 9/12 @ Loyola University Museum of Art

Whether critiquing economic injustice, spotlighting social issues, satirizing public officials, or inspiring change, 20th-century printmaking has a long and storied history... 

Baby Wants Candy

Comedy

Baby Wants Candy

Friday 9/12 @ Apollo Theater

Whether you love or fear musicals, you can delight in Baby Wants Candy, a fully improvised comedy show with song, dance,... 

Garfield Park Conservatory: Flower Power

City Gems

Flower Power

Friday 9/12 @ Garfield Park Conservatory

If the concrete trek and throngs of spectators at Friday's Fourth of July festivities leave you pining for something a little... 

The Seldoms:  <em>Convergence</em>

Dance

Convergence

Friday 9/12 @ The Seldoms

Like David Byrne's Playing the Building translated into dance, Convergence finds choreographer Carrie Hanson excavating conceptual bedrock in a 15,000-square-foot garage.... 

Heather Mekkelson: <em>Limited Entry</em>

Art

Heather Mekkelson: Limited Entry

Friday 9/12 @ Old Gold Exhibitions and Events

At first, it looks as if Heather Mekkelson has left Old Gold's basement gallery in a near-empty state. Gradually, it becomes... 

Rashid Johnson: <em>The New Escapist Promised Land Garden and Recreation Center </em>and <em>Cosmic Slops</em>

Art

Rashid Johnson: The New Escapist Promised Land Garden and Recreation Center and Cosmic Slops

Friday 9/12 @ moniquemeloche gallery

Rashid Johnson is one of the more promising young artists to emerge from Chicago in recent years, with photographs and sculptures... 

<em>The Dark Knight</em>: The IMAX Experience

Film

The Dark Knight

Friday 9/12 @ Navy Pier

The Dark Knight might go down as Heath Ledger's final film, but it would be a shame if the actor's tragic... 

<em>Chances Are the Comets in Our Future: A Visual Introduction to Drag City</em>

Art

Chances Are the Comets in Our Future

Friday 9/12 @ Gallery 400

Music may come first for Chicago-based Drag City — the record label has championed singular talents like Bonnie "Prince" Billy and... 

<em>Are We There Yet?</em>

Art

Are We There Yet?

Friday 9/12 @ Hyde Park Art Center

Curated by photographer Dawoud Bey, Are We There Yet? is a group show of lens-based work that touches on issues of... 

<em>Buddy:  The Buddy Holly Story</em>

Theatre

Buddy

Friday 9/12 @ Drury Lane Theatre Water Tower Place

Mamma Mia! and Movin' Out conquered Broadway even though their books are, respectively, a silly romantic melodrama and a confused narrative... 

Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool

City Gems

Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool

Friday 9/12 @ Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool

Escape the roaring cars on Lake Shore Drive and the crowds at Lincoln Park Zoo by slipping through the unobtrusive entrance... 

<em>Psychodrama</em>

Art: Photography

Psychodrama

Friday 9/12 @ Golden

In personal memorabilia, frozen grins tend to dominate — smiling is the Pavlovian response to the appearance of a lens. Chicagoan... 

Smart Home: Green + Wired

City Gems

Smart Home

Friday 9/12 @ Museum Campus

Just admit it, you've ogled the sleek modern houses you pass on certain streets and wished you could peek inside. The... 

Alec Soth: <em>Dog Days, Bogot&aacute;</em>

Art: Photography

Alec Soth

Friday 9/12 @ Stephen Daiter Gallery

In 2002, after finishing his breakthrough series Sleeping by the Mississippi, photographer Alec Soth traveled to Bogotá, Columbia, to adopt a... 

<em>Elegy</em>

Film

Elegy

Friday 9/12 @ Landmark Century Centre Cinema

Elegy is what happens when a female Spanish director (Isabel Coixet, My Life Without Me) adapts, of all things, a Philip... 

Art

Book and Paper Arts Triennial

Friday 9/12 @ Center for Book & Paper Arts at Columbia College Chicago

This juried triennial exhibition, dedicated to paper preservation and innovation in an increasingly paperless world, opens today at Columbia College Chicago's... 

M&oacute;nica Herrera: <em>Strings</em>

Art

Mónica Herrera: Strings

Friday 9/12 @ Hyde Park Art Center

For her interactive sound installation at Hyde Park Art Center, Mónica Herrera transforms the gallery into a giant musical instrument and... 

<em>Fake Lake</em>

Theatre

Fake Lake

Friday 9/12 @ Welles Park

What do you get when you combine a Lincoln Square swimming pool, a dam in Utah, and the alternative theatre of... 

<em>Hamlet 2 </em>

Film

Hamlet 2

Friday 9/12 @ Various locations

With a name like Hamlet 2, a movie is bound to be either the worst piffle to be hurled down the... 

Conrad Freiburg: <em>A Great Daydream</em>

Art

Conrad Freiburg

Friday 9/12 @ Linda Warren Gallery

Conrad Freiburg's clever contraptions require audience participation, but viewers' actions can sometimes lead to destruction. The artist's exquisite handiwork doesn't exist... 

<em>Tell No One</em>

Film

Tell No One

Friday 9/12 @ Landmark Century Centre Cinema

Herein lies living proof that the French can spin a gorgeous existentialist drama in any genre. Pediatrician Alex (François Cluzet) has... 

<em>Collecting for Chicago: Prints, Drawings, and Patronage</em>

Art

Collecting for Chicago

Friday 9/12 @ The Art Institute of Chicago

You may not have noticed, but the Art Institute's Department of Prints and Drawings has been running in stealth mode —... 

<em>Angles in America</em>

Art

Angles in America

Friday 9/12 @ Rhona Hoffman Gallery

You may find this show's title easy to misread, and that's by design — such ambiguity is all part of the... 

Gore Vidal's <em>Weekend</em>

Theatre

Gore Vidal's Weekend

Friday 9/12 @ TimeLine Theatre

Gore Vidal's cutting political satire Weekend was written (and is set) during the fraught 1968 presidential campaign. Weekend follows a Republican... 

<em>Scavenger Constructs: Site-Specific Sculptures</em>

Art

Scavenger Constructs: Site-Specific Sculptures

Friday 9/12 @ Glass Curtain Gallery at Columbia College Chicago

Andy Warhol's Campbell's Soup Cans turned mass-produced objects into meaningful art. With this transmutability in mind, Scavenger Constructs features five artists... 

Joe DeNardo and Aaron Henderson

Art

Joe DeNardo and Aaron Henderson

Friday 9/12 @ Normal Projects

Normal Projects is a new salon-style apartment gallery that spotlights video and works on paper. The space hosts two-person shows by... 

Art

Panorama of Modern Brazilian Architecture: From the 1950s to the Present

Friday 9/12 @ Crown Hall

This exhibition provides a thorough visual survey of Brazil's modern architecture. Photographs, drawings, and design concepts profile the work of well-established... 

Millennium Park Revealed

Special Event

Millennium Park Revealed

Friday 9/12 @ Chicago Architecture Foundation

Millennium Park has only been open officially for four years, but it's already a Chicago landmark. And like most things in... 

<em>Bottle Shock</em>

Film

Bottle Shock

Friday 9/12 @ Landmark Century Centre Cinema

In 1976, British oenophile Steven Spurrier (Alan Rickman) hosted a much-ballyhooed blind tasting between France's finest wine and California's — including... 

Jeff Koons

Art

Jeff Koons

Friday 9/12 @ Museum of Contemporary Art

It's easy to forget that art star and auction darling Jeff Koons made his name as a provocateur. His Made in... 

Bill O'Donnell: <em>Elevations</em>

Art: Photography

Bill O'Donnell

Friday 9/12 @ City Gallery

Bill O'Donnell's color photographs offer a world of spooky little vacation homes, troubling the eye with mixed-up scales and half-focused views.... 

<em>Campaign Supernova!</em><em> or How Many Democrats Does It Take to Lose an Election?</em>

Comedy

Campaign Supernova!

Friday 9/12 @ The Second City e.t.c.

From the director of the recent hit Between Barack and a Hard Place comes another election-season winner, Campaign Supernova!, performed by... 

Art

Light from Inside: Art from Illinois Prisons

Friday 9/12 @ Chicago Cultural Center

For those whose impressions of prisoners have mostly been shaped by watching Oz, this exhibition provides a look at prisoners' creative... 

<em>Sunday Painters: Discarded Paintings by Gifted Amateurs</em>

Art

Discarded Paintings by Gifted Amateurs

Friday 9/12 @ Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art

Whereas most found-art exhibitions make aesthetic objects out of forgotten knick-knacks, the focus of this exhibition is, more literally, fine art... 

Montrose Point Bird Sanctuary

City Gems

Montrose Point Bird Sanctuary

Friday 9/12 @ Montrose Point Bird Sanctuary

If nothing else, taking up birdwatching gives you a convenient excuse to bring terms like "Magnificent Frigatebird" and "Purple Gallinule" into...