Want a roadkill purse?

Plus: Red Clay Dance Company celebrate 16 seasons. [View this email in your browser]( | [chicagoreader.com]( by Maja Stachnik|October 23, 2024 Good morning! Anyone else soaking up the fall weather biking everywhere they can? Grateful for the views on the Lakefront Trail (and preemptively grateful for [“more wiry than scrawny”]( alderperson Daniel La Spata’s ordinance lowering the default speed limit on Chicago streets to 25 mph). Today’s issue of the Daily Reader is chock-full of arts and culture coverage, plus this week’s Gossip Wolf column. [an illustration of a woman planting plants with stars as the flower]( Av Grannan [Credit: Courtesy 21c Museum Hotel Chicago] [The magically macabre world of Sublime Remains]( For her brand [Sublime Remains]( Av Grannan transforms the uglier bits of nature—namely, roadkill—into stunning bags, hats, and accessories. “Roadkill is not the prettiest thing,” says Grannan, whose hats and bags often start as sketches of the recently deceased. Gross? Maybe, but Charlie Kolodziej writes that there’s something undeniably beautiful about the pieces, which sometimes represent nature in uncanny realism, like her horseshoe hat, or in a campy play on form, like her goose-shaped handbag—the handle of which is meant to resemble a goose’s bent neck. The project originated in the spring of 2020, as Grannan and her father came across a dead bird and realized that people don’t engage much with roadkill, despite its ubiquity in our daily lives. [READ MORE](  MUSIC & NIGHTLIFE - This week’s Gossip Wolf is a joint effort from staff writers Leor Galil and DMB. Chicago punk pioneers [the Effigies are releasing an album with their final recordings with front man John Kezdy]( who died in a bike accident in August 2023. Kezdy was the lone constant member in a band that broke up and re-formed three times. The project that became Burned has been in the works since 2020, and is out this Friday, October 25. They’ll honor Kezdy’s memory in December at a headlining Metro show celebrating Burned and the reissue of For Ever Grounded (1984). Plus, Chicago hardcore band [Si Dios Quiere drop their debut LP this Friday]( through New Morality Zine, the local label run by Nick Acosta. Galil and DMB report that “Fool’s Gold,” a track out this past August featured on No Angels, combines metal and hip-hop with heart and respect, something that the Chicago scene does especially well.  ARTS & CULTURE - Kicking off their 16th season, [Red Clay Dance Company is unveiling a program called Turning Points]( at the Logan Center this Friday and Saturday night. The program features three works: Unconditional Conditions, created by founding artistic director Vershawn Sanders-Ward; We all ’gon die: into revivals, created by Lela Aisha Jones; and DevelopMino, created by Amansu Eason. Kerry Reid also reports that [Lookingglass Theatre named Jamey Lundblad as managing director]( who was most recently deputy commissioner at the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events. Plus, [Lifeline Theatre is eliminating three paid staff positions]( in favor of what they call “a more ensemble-driven, volunteer leadership structure” after experiencing budget shortfalls. - Story Theatre playwright-in-residence [Justine Gelfman is in converstation with both Euripides and Britney Spears]( taking on an era of music that chewed up and spit out its female stars. This modern adaptation of Hippolytus centers the story of Ramona, who’s “selling out stadiums from within a fame prison that’s slowly destroying her personhood.” The Love Object runs through November 3, Thursday-Sunday at the Raven Theatre. [Marissa Oberlander] - Cathy Marston’s Atonement, with music by Laura Rossi, premiered in April with Ballett Zürich, where she serves as ballet director and chief choreographer, and is [now presented in its U.S. premiere by the Joffrey Ballet](. Irene Hsiao reports that the challenges of translating McEwan’s novel into live dance performance are many, considering how self-consciously literary the work is, concluding that the adaptation makes us see too much—and not enough. Atonement runs through this Sunday, October 27. [a logo for the ben joravsky show with a graphic of a man wearing a cap](  PODCASTS Injustice Watch senior reporter (and Reader alum) [Maya Dukmasova was on The Ben Joravsky show yesterday to talk justice—or at least judges](. In addition to an enlightening view of how judges got to the bench and what they did once they got there, she previews Injustice Watch’s judicial election guide—which you’ll find as an insert in tomorrow’s print issue of the Reader. Listen now!  BEHIND-THE-SCENES Chicago has been named the “rattiest city In America” for the tenth year in a row by national pest control company Orkin. Never say we’re not winners here in Chicago. Check out [our Rats Issue from last October]( to celebrate—if that’s the right word to use to commemorate the pervasiveness of our rodent pals. It features a [“Ratter” cover by Mike Centeno]( a piece on the [iconic rat abatement posters]( plastered in many alleys; and an interview with south-sider, lifetime teen, and [self-professed garbage lover Ratso](. 📰 LATEST ISSUE: OCCULT ISSUE 📰 [READ ONLINE]( | [COVER]( | [DOWNLOAD PDF]( [Facebook icon]( [Instagram icon]( [X icon]( [LinkedIn icon]( [Threads icon]( [YouTube icon]( [logo] You received this email because you signed up for newsletters from the Chicago Reader. Want fewer emails from us? [Click here to choose what you want us to send you](. Or, [unsubscribe from all Reader emails](. We’ll miss you! [Sign up for emails from the Chicago Reader]( | [Forward this e-mail to a friend]( © 2024 Chicago Reader. All rights reserved. Chicago Reader, 2930 S. Michigan Ave., Suite 102, Chicago, IL 60616