All events on Thursday September 18

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More Flavor: Discussion
John Zogby
Thursday Sep 18 (6pm) @ Hilton Chicago
In 2004, polling titan John Zogby prophesized that John Kerry would sweep the presidential election. He was, of course, incorrect, and solemnly pledged to "just... View details »
John Zogby
Music: DJ
Feadz w/ the Hood Internet
Thursday Sep 18 (9pm–2am) @ Sonotheque
To some, mashups are soulless, self-congratulatory products of an age that can only find meaning through sonic recycling. But the Hood Internet, made up of... View details »
Feadz w/ the Hood Internet
Music: Rock/Pop
Bird Names
Thursday Sep 18 (9pm) @ The Empty Bottle
East meets Midwest as Baltimore psych-spazzes Adventure and Future Islands square off with local low-fi act Bird Names. Adventure are stalwarts of the Wham City... View details »
Bird Names
Music: Rock/Pop
The Plastic People of the Universe
Thursday Sep 18 (9pm) @ The Hideout
Czech rockers the Plastic People of the Universe weren't just aesthetic dissidents — they were actual outlaws. Coming of age in the late '60s, a... View details »
The Plastic People of the Universe
Performing Arts: Theatre
Kafka on the Shore
Thursday Sep 18 (7:30pm) @ Steppenwolf Downstairs Theatre More times »
Novelist Haruki Murakami may be our preeminent purveyor of dreamlike narratives, fraught with surrealist tremors, pop-culture curios, and the echoes of history. His recent "metaphysical... View details »
Kafka on the Shore

Icon_ongoing The following events are ongoing.

Art
Jeff Koons
Thursday Sep 18 (10am–5pm) @ Museum of Contemporary Art More times »
It's easy to forget that art star and auction darling Jeff Koons made his name as a provocateur. His Made in Heaven series includes photographs... View details »
Jeff Koons
Performing Arts: Comedy
Campaign Supernova!
Thursday Sep 18 (8pm) @ The Second City e.t.c. More times »
From the director of the recent hit Between Barack and a Hard Place comes another election-season winner, Campaign Supernova!, performed by Second City. Where... View details »
Campaign Supernova!
Film
Tell No One
Thursday Sep 18 @ Landmark Century Centre Cinema More times »
Herein lies living proof that the French can spin a gorgeous existentialist drama in any genre. Pediatrician Alex (François Cluzet) has never gotten over the... View details »
Tell No One
Art
Mónica Herrera: Strings
Thursday Sep 18 (9am–8pm) @ Hyde Park Art Center More times »
Free
For her interactive sound installation at Hyde Park Art Center, Mónica Herrera transforms the gallery into a giant musical instrument and invites viewers to play... View details »
Mónica Herrera: Strings
More Flavor: City Gem
Montrose Point Bird Sanctuary
Thursday Sep 18 @ Montrose Point Bird Sanctuary More times »
Free
If nothing else, taking up birdwatching gives you a convenient excuse to bring terms like "Magnificent Frigatebird" and "Purple Gallinule" into conversation. In this sancturary,... View details »
Montrose Point Bird Sanctuary
Art
Discarded Paintings by Gifted Amateurs
Thursday Sep 18 (11am–7:30pm) @ Intuit More times »
Free
Whereas most found-art exhibitions make aesthetic objects out of forgotten knick-knacks, the focus of this exhibition is, more literally, fine art that's found. Discarded Paintings... View details »
Discarded Paintings by Gifted Amateurs
More Flavor: City Gem
Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool
Thursday Sep 18 (7:30am–7:30pm) @ Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool More times »
Free
Escape the roaring cars on Lake Shore Drive and the crowds at Lincoln Park Zoo by slipping through the unobtrusive entrance to the Alfred Caldwell... View details »
Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool
More Flavor: City Gem
Flower Power
Thursday Sep 18 (9am–5pm) @ Garfield Park Conservatory More times »
Free
If the concrete trek and throngs of spectators at Friday's Fourth of July festivities leave you pining for something a little more spacious and herbaceous,... View details »
Flower Power
Art
Art of Democracy
Thursday Sep 18 (10am–5pm) @ Loyola University Museum of Art More times »
Whether critiquing economic injustice, spotlighting social issues, satirizing public officials, or inspiring change, 20th-century printmaking has a long and storied history of disseminating ideas to... View details »
Art of Democracy
Film
The Dark Knight
Thursday Sep 18 @ Navy Pier More times »
The Dark Knight might go down as Heath Ledger's final film, but it would be a shame if the actor's tragic death overshadowed its prodigious... View details »
The Dark Knight
Art: Photography
Alec Soth
Thursday Sep 18 (11am–6pm) @ Stephen Daiter Gallery More times »
Free
In 2002, after finishing his breakthrough series Sleeping by the Mississippi, photographer Alec Soth traveled to Bogotá, Columbia, to adopt a baby girl. During his... View details »
Alec Soth
Film
Bottle Shock
Thursday Sep 18 @ Landmark Century Centre Cinema More times »
In 1976, British oenophile Steven Spurrier (Alan Rickman) hosted a much-ballyhooed blind tasting between France's finest wine and California's — including one made by small-vineyard... View details »
Bottle Shock
Art
Angles in America
Thursday Sep 18 (10am–5:30pm) @ Rhona Hoffman Gallery More times »
Free
You may find this show's title easy to misread, and that's by design — such ambiguity is all part of the game for the exhibition's... View details »
Angles in America
Art
Are We There Yet?
Thursday Sep 18 (10am–8pm) @ Hyde Park Art Center More times »
Free
Curated by photographer Dawoud Bey, Are We There Yet? is a group show of lens-based work that touches on issues of mobility. It's a timely... View details »
Are We There Yet?
Art
Stan Shellabarger: Walking Books
Thursday Sep 18 (11am–6pm) @ Western Exhibitions More times »
Free
Artist Stan Shellabarger repeats mundane actions over and over again, turning them into extreme undertakings. For his second show at Western Exhibitions the artist displays... View details »
Stan Shellabarger: Walking Books
Film
Elegy
Thursday Sep 18 @ Landmark Century Centre Cinema More times »
Elegy is what happens when a female Spanish director (Isabel Coixet, My Life Without Me) adapts, of all things, a Philip Roth short story. Renowned... View details »
Elegy
Art
Scavenger Constructs: Site-Specific Sculptures
Thursday Sep 18 (9am–7pm) @ Glass Curtain Gallery at Columbia College Chicago More times »
Free
Andy Warhol's Campbell's Soup Cans turned mass-produced objects into meaningful art. With this transmutability in mind, Scavenger Constructs features five artists who give new meaning... View details »
Scavenger Constructs: Site-Specific Sculptures
Art: Photography
Bill O'Donnell
Thursday Sep 18 (10am–6:30pm) @ City Gallery More times »
Free
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. This series, on display... View details »
Bill O'Donnell
Performing Arts: Theatre
Fake Lake
Thursday Sep 18 (8pm) @ Welles Park More times »
What do you get when you combine a Lincoln Square swimming pool, a dam in Utah, and the alternative theatre of the Neo-Futurists? You get... View details »
Fake Lake
Film
I Served the King of England
Thursday Sep 18 @ Landmark Century Centre Cinema More times »
Screenwriter/director Jirí Menzel translates this tale of a Czech waiter working through both the Nazi and communist regimes from a novel into an engaging, balletic... View details »
I Served the King of England
Art
Chances Are the Comets in Our Future
Thursday Sep 18 (10am–6pm) @ Gallery 400 More times »
Free
Music may come first for Chicago-based Drag City — the record label has championed singular talents like Bonnie "Prince" Billy and Bill Callahan/Smog for years... View details »
Chances Are the Comets in Our Future
Art
Light from Inside: Art from Illinois Prisons
Thursday Sep 18 @ Chicago Cultural Center More times »
Free
For those whose impressions of prisoners have mostly been shaped by watching Oz, this exhibition provides a look at prisoners' creative talent and dedication. Light... View details »
Art
Conrad Freiburg
Thursday Sep 18 (11am–5pm) @ Linda Warren Gallery More times »
Free
Conrad Freiburg's clever contraptions require audience participation, but viewers' actions can sometimes lead to destruction. The artist's exquisite handiwork doesn't exist for its own sake... View details »
Conrad Freiburg
Film
Hamlet 2
Thursday Sep 18 @ Various locations More times »
With a name like Hamlet 2, a movie is bound to be either the worst piffle to be hurled down the cinematic pike, or pure... View details »
Hamlet 2
Art: Architecture/Design
Panorama of Modern Brazilian Architecture: From the 1950s to the Present
Thursday Sep 18 @ Crown Hall More times »
Free
This exhibition provides a thorough visual survey of Brazil's modern architecture. Photographs, drawings, and design concepts profile the work of well-established Brazilian architects such as... View details »
Art
Rashid Johnson: The New Escapist Promised Land Garden and Recreation Center and Cosmic Slops
Thursday Sep 18 (11am–5pm) @ Monique Meloche More times »
Free
Rashid Johnson is one of the more promising young artists to emerge from Chicago in recent years, with photographs and sculptures in exhibitions across the... View details »
Rashid Johnson: The New Escapist Promised Land Garden and Recreation Center and Cosmic Slops
Performing Arts: Theatre
Gore Vidal's Weekend
Thursday Sep 18 (7:30pm) @ TimeLine Theatre More times »
Gore Vidal's cutting political satire Weekend was written (and is set) during the fraught 1968 presidential campaign. Weekend follows a Republican senator as he prepares... View details »
Gore Vidal's Weekend
Performing Arts: Theatre
Buddy
Thursday Sep 18 (7:30pm) @ Drury Lane Theatre Water Tower Place More times »
Mamma Mia! and Movin' Out conquered Broadway even though their books are, respectively, a silly romantic melodrama and a confused narrative told through dance. Their... View details »
Buddy
More Flavor: City Gem
Smart Home
Thursday Sep 18 @ Museum Campus More times »
Just admit it, you've ogled the sleek modern houses you pass on certain streets and wished you could peek inside. The Museum of Science and... View details »
Smart Home