773-272-6514 facebook.com/BadAssBabez Runner-Up Sunday Dinner Club

I’ve watched every season of The Bachelor, give or take a few somewhere in the middle when I thought I’d get into foreign films or read some books instead. That clearly didn’t stick, and for at least the last five consecutive seasons I’ve curled up every Monday it’s aired with a glass (OK, bottle) of wine to watch these groups of “normal” people try to find love. At their core, both The Bachelor and Love are obsessed with the idea of being with a particular someone—not because you really want to but because you think you should....

The days are—imperceptibly—getting shorter. We are officially sliding into the second half of 2017, which means it’s time for our second list of books we can’t wait to read. While I was compiling this list, I happened across an essay by the wise and wonderful Linda Holmes on NPR’s Monkey See blog about how there’s no possible way anyone will be able to read all the books they want to read, let alone watch all the TV shows, listen to all the podcasts, etc....

Challenged with fermented black beans, Barrelhouse Flat bartender Dan Smith initially confused them with natto, Japanese fermented soybeans, a past challenge ingredient. Fermented black beans turned out to be far more familiar to him—at least in the form of black-bean sauce, a staple of many Chinese dishes. In their more basic form, the beans are “extremely salty,” he said, which posed a bit of a problem, as “an aggressively salty cocktail just isn’t going to be pleasant to get down....

Thanks to a pair of Bangkok-based record collectors, an awful lot of curious listeners in the west have been introduced to the distinct pleasures of Thai popular music in recent years. Chris Menist and Maft Sai have compiled and produced a series of excellent collections for Soundway, Finders Keepers, Dust-to-Digital, and Zudrangma Records examining luk thung and molam music from the 60s-80s, and judging from another recent collection they put together for the Japanese imprint Em Records there seems to be plenty more to come....

I called out the Sardinia hardcore-punk band Thee Oops back in December for an In Rotation, but I’ve been having so much trouble keeping their 2012 Slovenly EP, Happy Charlie, away from my turntable that I figured what the hell . . . today’s 12 O’Clock Track offers me another opportunity to talk about ’em. The release consists of a pair of 45s that have such short fuses they need flipping well before you’re able to get comfortable....

It’s no secret that in today’s world running a big band is a daunting prospect. It’s difficult enough to wrangle 18 musicians together to perform, let alone rehearse complex, harrowing scores, not to mention finding venues with stages large enough to fit the entire ensemble. But saxophonist and composer Brian Krock, a 29-year-old Arlington Heights native, had his sights set on putting together such a group when he first moved to New York nearly a decade ago....

As the hotel workers’ strike winds down, another union is ramping up a strike of its own. Members of the Painters District Council #14 launched a picket Monday at 1000 W. Washington, where the owners of the building, Lieberman Management Company, have contracted a nonunion company, CertaPro Painters. “It just made me feel great that people are standing up fighting for working-class people to receive better than what they’re getting now....

ROOF on theWit 201 N. State Runner-Up Cherry Circle Room

Humans have been observing the winter solstice across cultures and continents for thousands of years. In 1990 two Chicago percussionists, Hamid Drake and Michael Zerang, marked the northern hemisphere’s shortest day with a concert in a dance studio with a view of the el tracks. The idea was to provide a special occasion for a couple dozen friends who might not celebrate the season in any other way. But that concert has grown over the past 25 years into a beloved series of concerts—an annual gathering that transcends Drake and Zerang’s respective social circles and fan bases....

A Reader staffer shares three musical obsessions, then asks someone (who asks someone else) to take a turn. Free Salamander Exhibit at Beat Kitchen on July 31 This five-piece includes four alumni of the inimitable Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, and its 2016 debut, Undestroyed, keeps faith with that band’s wild, chimerical prog rock (though without Carla Kihlstedt and her violin, it leans more on guitars). At this show, front man Nils Frykdahl framed the songs’ surreal fables of late-capitalist apocalypse with sly, dadaist patter that unsettled you just enough to absorb their revolutionary messages....

Here’s the most Chicago thing I’ve ever seen: I was driving down Lake Shore Drive, traffic at a near standstill, and in the lane next to mine, a truck was trying to steamroll a small car in front of it: riding its bumper, slamming the horn—general dick moves. I could see the truck driver’s face. He was angry, yelling. I couldn’t hear what he was saying, but it’s fair to assume it was not nice....

Nearly a year after a Reader investigation revealed that African-Americans make up two-thirds of the Chicago’s open missing persons cases, and that almost a fourth of all missing persons are black girls between the ages of 11 and 21, the City Council’s Public Safety Committee held a hearing to question police officials on the disparity. CPD deputy chief James Jones, commander Thomas Lemmer, and sergeant Jeffrey Coleman were short on explanations, however, and didn’t seem interested in taking up aldermen on offers of help and resources for the department’s missing persons operations....

If a tree falls in Jackson Park these days, you can bet it’ll be noticed. It will instead be a museum, community hub (with gym and auditorium), and training center for political leaders, both local and international. It’ll include a library, but nothing like a National Archives-managed research facility. Instead, according to an agreement reached this spring, it’ll house a 5,000-square-foot Chicago Public Library branch in a rent-free space leased from the Obama Foundation and staffed by CPL....

1549 W. Division 773-486-6655 Runner-Up Red Apple Buffet

Zvuloon Dub System If you’re looking to enjoy the long Fourth of July weekend in a big way there are plenty of musical options available. If you’re a fan of electronic music you might want to check out the first annual Riverwest Music Festival when it kicks off Friday or you can head down to 63rd and Hayes on Saturday for the Chosen Few Old School Reunion Picnic. Of course there are also plenty of nonfestival concerts worth checking out this weekend....

Whores There are a lot of great shows this week, and it’s for a handful of good reasons. The snow is gone! It’s going to be 60 degrees out tomorrow! Musician friends from all across town are heading home from their South by Southwest tours! It’s great, and it’s making for another busy weekend of live music. This week I recommended brand-new local two-piece Tinkerbelles as the show to not miss....

It’s been more than three months since I last wrote about our need for a financial transaction tax on the city’s exchanges. But in that short time Mayor Emanuel’s given us roughly 700 million new reasons for supporting it. My inspiration in these matters is Joan Kufrin, a retired freelance writer from Chicago, who had a revelation earlier this year about the potential benefits of the so-called LaSalle Street tax as she watched Mayor Emanuel inch closer to her pocketbook....

Singer-songwriter Will Johnson rules for a number of reasons. One is that he’s a massive baseball fan—not only will he sing a national anthem, but he also picked up baseball painting a few years back. He’s also wildly prolific, hammering out solo albums as well as albums with side projects of side projects—or collaborating with like-minded talents like the late Jason Molina. However, my exposure to Johnson happened through the Denton band Centro-matic, and, more specifically, the opening track from Dual Hawks, “Rat Patrol and DJs” (the album itself is actually a split with another one of Johnson’s bands, South San Gabriel....