Chicago Best Weekend Bets

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We write stuff. Here’s some of that stuff from the last week that may be applicable to your preferences!

• America’s best record label, Numero Group, is on a pop-up shop tour. We spoke with their label head about how to start your Numero collection.
  
• Teresa Lee is our Funny Human of the Week.
• We interviewed Carl Newman of The New Pornographers.

• They’ve got a really great David Lynch retrospective happening at the Music Box, and tonight you can check out one of his best, Mulholland Drive.
• Local jazz icon Makaya McCraven plays two sets at The California Clipper.
• Underheralded indie rock god Tobin Sprout headlines the late show at the Beat Kitchen with special guest Busman’s Holiday.
• Big ol rock show at Reggies Rock Club with sets from Supersuckers, Tijuana Hercules, Pidgin, and 20 Watt Tombstone.
• Field Notes’ Midwestern Headquarters has a cool lookin party celebrating the local zine scene!
• Emporium Arcade Bar’s popup Branca Bar has a free jazz show with the Bill MacKay/Charlie Kirchen/Julian Kirshner trio.
• Hopleaf’s got a cool beer event, featuring a retrospective of the work of craft brew pioneers Anchor Brewing.
• Tommy Keene and Ivan Julian are playing at The Hideout.
• Catch Dos Santos and Kiko Villamizar at the Empty Bottle tonight!
• The Logan Theatre’s showing the modern classic Ghost World.
• Vita and the Woolf, The Well Tempered, and Looms are playing at the Beat Kitchen this evening.
• Allie X and K.I.D. play Lincoln Hall tonight!
• Hit up Schubas for a show from Avec Sans, Kicky Love, and Dream Council.
  Head over to Berlin Night Club for a show called Dead But Giving You Life, Ariel Zetina, Toyota Corona, and more.
• Evanston Space has a show from The Pines and Frankie Lee.

• 
Rad show featuring Hurray For The Riff Raff and Ron Gallo at Thalia Hall.
• Chicago-based Netflix series Easy is taping an episode of it’s second season tonight at the always great monthly standup show Congrats On Your Success in Logan Square.
• The Empty Bottle’s yearlong 25th anniversary celebration continues tonight with a show from Pissed Jeans, STNNNG, and The Catburglars.
• The David Lynch retrospective at the Music Box continues tonight with screenings of Blue Velvet, David Lynch: The Art Life, and Industrial Symphony No. 1.
• Gregory Uhlmann, Brokeback, and V.V. Lightbody play The Hideout this evening.
• Electronic soundscapists Tycho headline the Riviera tonight with guests Beacon.
• Dog-friendly gala fundraiser called Bark ‘n Ball 2017 happens tonight! Hell yeah. Dogs rule.
• Heavy Dreams, GOSH!, and The Psychodelics play the Downstairs space at Subterannean.
• Unwed Sailor and Bensin play the early show at Schubas.
• Lydia Ainsworth and Sports Boyfriend play Schubas for the late show tonight.
• Johalla Projects has the opening reception for Marzena Abrahamik’s new show Girl Play.
• Timber Timbre and The Wooden Sky perform their indie rocks at Lincoln Hall tonight.
• Stalley, Beanie Sigel, and Chase Cashman play a show at the Promontory.
• Yelling comedian Lewis Black brings his Rant, White, and Blue Tour through The Chicago Theatre.
• Rad Payoff, No Men, Salvation, and Rat Hammer are at Quenchers tonight!
• Pocket Radio and Nashon Holloway are playing a free show at Emporium Wicker Park.

• Do some daytime stuff:
• The Empty Bottle’s yearly Maypole Folk Festival takes over the venue all day today, with sets from folkies like Black Bear Combo, Moon Bros, Devil In A Woodpile, and more!
• More David Lynch at the Music Box, screenings of Wild At Heart, Blue Velvet, and Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me.
• The Patio Theatre’s Sci-Fi Spectacular movie marathon has screenings of classic like Videodrome, Total Recall, Repo Man, and more!
• Art & Food on Fulton, a daytime event care of the folks at Chicago-GO: Off The Beaten Path, happens today.
• The People’s Climate March is today, go stand up for what’s right.
• Head to the National Museum of Mexican Art’s Running Street Art Tour, with free programming and healthy activity!
• Punk Rock and Donuts, a concert series at the Richard J Daley Branch Library, is back! Performances from Cracked Vessel, Warrior Tribes, and Lilac.
• The Chicago Tequila and Sangria Festival at Joe’s Bar has a bunch of damn tasty drinks for you to sample.

• Then, night stuff:
• Incredible and incredibly filthy Chicago-based rapper Cupcakke headlines Subterranean tonight, with special guest K.I.D.
• New York Night Train SOUL CLAP & DANCE OFF featuring DJ Jonathan Toubin comes to the Hideout tonight! The Yolks open.
• Chicagoans What Gives celebrate the release of their new album with guest sets from Pacemaker, Retirement Party, and Rust Ring. It all goes down at the Downstairs space at Subterranean.
• The Unicorn Ball, the first annual coming out party for the Trans Liberation Collective, comes to The Shapiro Ballroom.
• Experimental arts studio High Concept Labs hosts it’s Spring Open House event!
• Analog Dreams, a retro synth party at Emporium Logan Square, hosts a fundraising event for the Greater Chicago Ferret Association, the city’s only shelter for homeless ferrets.
• Magick Potion, Bottomed, and Death Factory bring the vibes to Beat Kitchen tonight.
• Storytelling show 20×2 Chicago features 20 Chicagoans sharing 2 minute stories based around a theme. This month’s theme is WTF? so you know you better lock the gates!
• Americana folks The Jayhawks and Wesley Stace hit the stage at Thalia Hall tonight.
• Get Better, a documentary film about punk/folk dude Frank Turner, screens at the Metro tonight!
• Panama Wedding and Sun Seeker play the late show at Schubas tonight, but act quickly if you’re interested, as tickets are going fast!
• Bill Maher is doing his Bill Maher thing at the Chicago Theatre, which is great news for area Bill Maher fans.

• Noise/comedy variety show Helltrap Nightmare has a homecoming show happening at the Hideout, returning from a weeks long tour that took the collective across the eastern US.
• Local freak-pop megatalent Nnamdi Ogbonnaya celebrates the release of his debut solo LP at Lincoln Hall, with special guest appearances from Mfn Melo, Grill Billyenz, Thrashkitten, Mother Nature, and Sen Morimoto.
• More David Lynch at the Music Box which is OK with me! Today you can watch The Elephant Man, Wild At Heart, and Inland Empire.
• Twin Forks is the indie folk band the dude from Dashboard Confessional started to get away from the Dashboard Confessional #brand for a lil while. Think of it as his Angels & Airwaves. Anyways they’re at Thalia Hall tonight with guests The Social Animals.
• The Chicago Alternative Comics Expo hosts a drink and draw event at the Empty Bottle this afternoon.
• Post Child, Garbage Greek, Stychnine, and Nightcrawler play a freaky, budget-priced show at the Empty Bottle this evening.
• Modern Chemistry, Davlin, As We Once Were, and Furlough play Downstairs at Subterranean tonight!
• Wekfest Chicago 2017 comes to McCormick Place, showcasing the work of the folks in the aftermarket automotive industry! Go check out some tricked out whips.
• Branches, Cousins, and Sedgewick are at the Beat Kitchen.
• North Center barbershop Iron Heritage & Supply Co. hosts their Grand Opening Neighborly Event today, which has fun prizes and free treats.
• Got rock and roll dreams? Like supporting the rock dreams of others? Take in a special preview of the School of Rock’s Spring Season at Lincoln Hall this afternoon.
• Listening party CAS Chicago returns to the Saturday Audio Exchange in Lakeview, talking about and listening to the classic album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.
• Jackson Whalan and Co-Stanza play Schubas.
• Boiler Room’s PBR Movie Night presents a screening of Empire Records, that ‘90s alt rock slacker classic!