Plus: A fashion show at the Chicago History Museum.
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by Maja Stachnik|December 6, 2024 Happy Friday! Seeing “best-of” lists coming out everywhere has me playing catch-up. Vocalo put together this list of “[13 of the very best Chicago albums of 2024]( Today, we’re looking at theater and dance editor Kerry Reid’s picks for holiday shows across the city, including Ayn Rand’s “It’s a Wonderful Life” as Performed by the Conspirators Under the Direction of President Biden NO WAIT, Liz Cheney, which I would see just for the title.  [The Cratchit family sits around the holiday table while Scrooge looks on. Mr. and Mrs. Cratchit stand at either end raising their cups, with their six children seated, Tiny Tim at the head of the table on the left.]( A Christmas Carol at the Goodman Theatre [Credit: Liz Lauren] [Seasonal onstage treats]( There is no shortage of onstage options, from traditional to naughty, to keep you entertained and create some memories. Theater and dance editor Kerry Reid put together a guide to a few holiday shows the city has to offer. Stage versions of A Christmas Carol pop up everywhere this time of year: Goodman Theatre is your best bet for a viewing in the city, though you can also catch it in various suburbs, as well as slightly less traditional takes at Den Theatre, Lifeline Theatre, and Studebaker Theatre. Reid also suggests shows for young audiences—everything from Rudolph Runs Wild at Second City to That’s Weird, Grandma: A Holiday Spectacular at Playmakers. Plus, she includes a “sleighful” of shows that provide fresh takes on holiday themes, cabaret and variety shows, and dance (including, but not limited to, The Nutcracker, ticket sales from which represent 48 percent of overall revenues for dance companies nationwide). [READ MORE]( Â
  VISUAL ARTS - The Chicago History Museum’s newest exhibition takes visitors on a tour through the city’s styles. Timed to honor the 50th anniversary of the museum’s costume council, the collection dates all the way back to the 1920s, and all of the displays on view were handpicked by former curators of the collection with the help of current curator Jessica Pushor. The first Air Jordans sit alongside Christian Dior’s 1947 “Corolla” collection and Maybelle Shearer’s famous feather fans made for burlesque dancer Sally Rand, who used them during her performances to play “peekaboo” with her body. [“Dressed in History: A Costume Collection Retrospective”]( is on view through July 2025. FILM & TV - On July 14, 2018, Harith “Snoop” Augustus, a barber in Chicago’s South Shore neighborhood, was shot to death by Officer Dillan Halley—Bill Morrison’s short film about Augustus’s death, [Incident, is screening Monday, December 9, at the Gene Siskel Film Center](. Morrison, who has watched the bodycam and surveillance footage of the incident, many, many times, tells Kat Sachs, “He wasn’t thinking about being stopped. He was scratching his back.” Morrison will appear in person at the Film Center for a postscreening dialogue, joined by Jamie Kalven, founder of the Invisible Institute and the intrepid journalist whose reporting on the Laquan McDonald shooting brought that injustice to light. [Kat Sachs] Â
  MUSIC & NIGHTLIFE - Alongside fellow Underground Resistance founders Jeff Mills and “Mad” Mike Banks, [Robert Hood]( helped create a counterculture by and for Black people that expanded listeners’ political imaginations through minimal techno beats. Since his time in UR, Hood’s career has taken a series of twists and turns; he’s recorded under a number of aliases, founded minimal techno label M-Plant, and become an ordained minister. Hood’s Smart Bar appearance tomorrow night is cosponsored by the Museum of Contemporary Art, where he’ll speak on a panel alongside author DeForrest Brown Jr. and artist Arthur Jafa at 2 PM. - Steve Krakow reports that the last time Bettye LaVette rolled through Chicago, she performed in front of roughly 60,000 people, opening one of the Rolling Stones’ June 2024 concerts at Soldier Field. LaVette performed at a star-studded concert at the Lincoln Memorial celebrating Barack Obama’s 2009 inauguration, and in April of that year she [collaborated onstage with Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr]( at Radio City Music Hall. She’s continued to release more blues and soul albums, stacking up the awards and salutations. By comparison, this concert on December 8 at the Old Town School of Folk Music will feel downright intimate. Plus: [Street-rap royalty converge on Wintrust Arena for the WGCI Big Jam]( (Saturday, December 7, at Wintrust Arena) Â
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[a logo for the ben joravsky show with a graphic of a man wearing a](  PODCASTS Earlier this week, [Sergio Vicente, host of The Fight podcast,]( stopped by the show to explain how the rise of Jake Paul is a metaphor for the age of Trump—an age of women-hating white guys. Was the Mike Tyson fight rigged? Could Sergio beat Jake Paul if he had a year to get back into prime fighting shape? And finally: the great LeBron-MJ debate.   BEHIND-THE-SCENES Join the Reader at Maria’s Packaged Goods for [Brunch-Ski]( this Sunday, December 8, from 3 PM to 8 PM! Featuring house music dance party Strictly '90s (Gant-Man, John Simmons, and Czboogie) and DJ Karl Almaria, Brunchlox's Cindy Knott has also [created a Nordic and Filipino special menu]( for the event. Mention the Reader and get free lumpia. No cover! 📰 LATEST ISSUE: DECEMBER 5, 2024 📰 [READ ONLINE]( | [COVER]( | [DOWNLOAD PDF]( Â
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