Friday / October 12
Ida Noyes Hall rocks out this Friday as COUP hosts its annual Blues ’n’ Ribs event. The event is a venerable campus institution—like the Committee on Social Thought, but tastier and louder. Local blues bands will you keep you shuffling back and forth and snapping your fingers awkwardly all night (or maybe that’s just me). Great American comfort food, like St. Louis–style ribs, corn bread, cole slaw, and potato salad is served, with spanakopita for the vegetarians. (Ida Noyes Hall, 9 p.m. to 1 a.m., free)
Michael Snow’s Corpus Callosum, so named after the region of the brain that connects the two hemispheres, is a meditation on the theme of “between.” But you shouldn’t be between seeing it and not; Michael Snow is a legend in art, and Corpus is widely believed to herald a new kind of filmmaking. (Film Studies Center, 7 p.m., free)
Chicago’s period instrument orchestra, Baroque Band, comes to Hyde Park Union Church for a concert featuring Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos Three and Six. The brand-new outfit debuted in May 2007 to enthusiastic approbation. It’s a bit pricey, but if you’re mad about Baroque music and want to hear it the way 17th-century audiences might have, you can’t do better. (Hyde Park Union Church, 7:30 p.m., $15 for students)
For two nights only, the Music Box is putting on midnight screenings of Jeff Garlin’s I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With, a story of an unappreciated Chicago actor looking for love, a job, and a way to lose weight. Garlin is best known for his role as Larry David’s agent in Curb Your Enthusiasm, but the Chicago native began as a stand-up comedian, and his film is a paean to Chicago in much the same way Manhattan was Woody Allen’s love letter to New York. The film is also a reunion for Second City–spawned talent; Amy Sedaris, Dan Castellaneta, and Richard Kind all make appearances. (3733 North Southport Avenue, 12 a.m., $9.25)
Saturday / October 13
Saturday is the last chance to see Raven Theatre’s acclaimed Ape, a play about evolution, creation science, and growing up. The tension between the secular and the religious in this country may invite soapboxing, but Ape avoids it with well wrought characters and convincing relationships. (6157 North Clark Street, 3 p.m. and 8:30 p.m., $15 for students)
Bernard Kinsey, former president of Xerox, and his wife Shirley have amassed a collection of artwork, books, letters, and photographs that is a treasure trove for anyone interested in black history and culture. From an extremely rare 1632 edition of Leo Africanus to letters written by Malcolm X and Alex Haley to a sculpture by Romare Bearden, the 90-piece show at the DuSable Museum covers a vast span of history and a panoply of artistic movements. (740 East 56th Place, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., $2 for students)
Sunday / October 14
The Saint Paul Orchestra opens its Chicago season with pieces from Beethoven, R. Strauss and Dan Coleman. Beethoven’s Fourth Symphony is—along with his First—one of his more neglected symphonic works. (Mandel Hall, 3 p.m., $5 for students)
If you want to make some noise of your own, make a path to Double Door’s Beer and Gear Sale, where you can buy used instruments and other music gear while taking advantage of the full bar. Pizza will also be served. (1572 North Milwaukee Avenue, 12 p.m., free)
Monday / October 15
Big Time Sarah is an established Chicago blues singer with a charismatic style and a deep voice who has entertained in North Side blues clubs for over 20 years. The lady is known for dragging meek audience members (Walter Payton’s mother, once) onto the stage to help out. It’s about more than music for Sarah; it’s about throwing a raucous party. (536 North Clark Street, 9 p.m., $8)
Tuesday / October 16
From October 16–18, the Music Box presents Autism: The Musical, Tricia Regan’s fascinating, powerful 2007 documentary about a group of autistic children who write, direct, and rehearse a live musical. The film chronicles the frustrations of the parents and the joys and pains of the children without being maudlin. (3733 North Southport Avenue, 7:30 and 9:30 p.m., $9.25)
Chicago native Dwayne Kennedy has developed into a top comedian specializing in political commentary. He’s been on Letterman and Late Night, How High and Desperation Boulevard. Now he comes to Zanies, and apparently he’s got an axe to grind with religion. The price is a little steep along with the two-item minimum, but for Kennedy fans it’s small potatoes. (1548 North Wells Street, 8:30 p.m., $23 plus two-item minimum)
Wednesday / October 17
David Cole, a litigator for the Center for Constitutional Rights and a frequent radio commentator on First Amendment issues, talks about his new book, Less Safe, Less Free: Why America is Losing the War on Terror, Wednesday night. The talk is part of the World Beyond the Headlines lecture series sponsored by the Center for International Studies, the Co-op bookstores, and the International House Global Voices Program. (International House Assembly Hall, 6 p.m., free)
Thursday / October 18
It’s quite a trek, but if you can make it over to Northwestern’s Block Theatre, you’re in for something pretty great. Alfred Hitchcock’s Shadow of a Doubt is playing Thursday night as part of a series of his films accompanying the Block Museum’s exhibition on Hitchcock’s storyboard artists. Shadow, about a young woman in small-town America who realizes that her affable uncle is really a cold, cynical killer, was Hitchcock’s favorite film to direct and is widely considered his first and best “American” movie. (40 Arts Circle Drive, 8 p.m., free)
The Mother Hips, a NorCal band that combines ’60s British Invasion pop-rock with ’70s California rock and country (“California Soul”) plays at Schubas Tavern on Thursday night. They’ve opened for Wilco and Johnny Cash but remain relatively obscure outside California. They are accompanied by the poppy Probably Vampires and Pink Nasty. One of the great things about Schubas is its adjoining restaurant, Harmony Grill, which serves well prepared, slightly upscale comfort food. It’s a lot better than the usual bar grub. (3159 North Southport Avenue, 9 p.m., $15)
