Friday | April 13
Who doesn’t love a premature tax return, especially when it includes crispy strips of pig fat? In celebration of the IRS tax-filing deadline (April 17, a joyous occasion), Oscar Meyer is handing out free samples of their beloved Butcher Thick Cut Bacon at two downtown locations. If you didn’t bring home the bacon yesterday or Wednesday, then today is your last chance! 300 South Wacker Drive. 11:30 a.m., free; 210 South Canal Street (at Jackson). 4:30 p.m., free.
Celebrate the centennial of experimental American composer John Cage, famous for his avant-garde pieces like “4’33’’”—4 minutes and 33 seconds of solid gold silence, in which musicians take the stage and then just sit there. Catch the beginning of Aperiodic’s John Cage Festival, curated by Naomi Epstein, which runs through Sunday. The opening concert is comprised of several eccentric compositions, such as “59 1/2” for a String Player”, “In a Landscape”, and “Suite for Toy Piano”, and a lecture on The Cage Collection, given by D. J. Hoek. 210 South Michigan Avenue. 7:30 p.m., $8 with student ID.
Saturday | April 14
Save the last dance for the undead at The Empty Bottle’s Zombie Prom. The exhumed event features performances from Get Up With The Get Downs and Wild Blue Angel who specialize in James Brown and Jimi Hendrix covers, respectively. All proceeds go to The Arts of Life, an organization that provides individuals with a comfortable, equalizing environment where everyone can realize their full artistic potential. Ticket also gets you into the “Windy City Soul Club” after party. 1035 North Western Avenue, 6–9 p.m., $15 for singles, $25 for couples, 21+.
If freeze-dried food can land on the moon, then tamales and schnitzel should be permitted to roll down the streets of Chicago. Head to the Chicago Mobile Food Symposium, brought to you by My Streets! My Eats! and the Institute for Justice, at the University of Chicago Law School to hear many more convincing arguments about why mobile chefs should be able to move about the Windy City unfettered. Well over a dozen food trucks, including Sweet Ride, Duck ‘n’ Roll and Lillie’s Q Meat Mobile, will be parked outside the Law School for lunch. Registration is now closed, and admission to the symposium will be granted on a first-come, first-served basis. Everyone is welcome to the moveable feast. 1111 East 60th Street. 8:30 a.m.–1:30 p.m., free.
Sunday | April 15
Get off your couch and head to the Loop to hear a University of Chicago professor lecture about Freud. As part of the Graham School’s weekly Works of the Mind Lecture Series, Professor Bertram J. Cohler (departments of Comparative Human Development, Psychology, and Psychiatry) will hold a session on problems of the personal and public in The Interpretation of Dreams at the Chicago Cultural Center. Who knows, you might have a real breakthrough. 78 East Washington Street. 1 p.m., free.
It seems that James Cameron’s Titanic franchise has reached its final frontier, (once you’ve seen Jack and Rose “never let go” in 3D, you’ve seen it all) and that it’s time now to return to the classics. To commemorate the sinking of that great transatlantic superliner, exactly 100 years ago to the day (makes you feel old, doesn’t it?), the Northwest Chicago Film Society will screen Roy Ward Baker’s A Night to Remember (1958). The film attempts to faithfully chronicle the events of that night as well as the true stories of select passengers. 4050 North Milwaukee Avenue. 7:30 p.m., $5.
