Despite getting an extremely late start in his quest for Chicago blues stardom—his first domestic full-length as a bandleader was released in 1979, when he was 50 years old—guitarist Jimmy Johnson has been a local fixture for so long that some fans take him for granted. Bad move. Johnson’s spiky solos twist and dart with startling unpredictability, and his searing, high-pitched vocals remind you that in the 60s he used to back up top soul acts onstage....

Rich Hein/Sun-Times Media Dean Zanella at Rhapsody Several months back I wrote about the tragedy that befell the family of chef Dean Zanella, long of 312 Chicago and Rhapsody—his wife Mary died suddenly, just days after giving birth to their twin daughters. There are two benefits being held for the twins, Anna and Nora. One is Tuesday, August 26th at River Roast, from 9 PM to midnight; chefs Tony Mantuano and John Hogan (who will be the next Key Ingredient chef, incidentally) will host a star-studded group of chefs (Kahan, Tentori, Virant, Manion, Hickey, et cetera) serving up food and drink on the patio....

2172 S. Archer 312-326-5040 Runner-Up Friendship Chinese Restaurant

Ghostlight Ensemble 1903 W. Warner Runner-Up Otherworld Theatre Company

It’s been an up-and-down couple of weeks for Mayor Emanuel as he attempts to win back some of the black voters he alienated with closings, cuts, and firings in his first three years in office. The funny thing is that the mayor probably thought he was doing the politically smart thing this time around. “We did the same work, but we don’t get the same money,” says a janitor I’ll call Billy, who works for a private firm....

Word broke Monday that Chicago teachers had overwhelmingly voted to authorize a strike. I’d like to note that Mayor Emanuel could have avoided all of this by agreeing to a one-year deal that wouldn’t have cost the schools any more new money in teacher salaries. Get ready for an eventful 2016, Chicago. If nothing else, the deal would have bought them time to go, hand in hand, to Springfield to persuade the governor and legislative leaders to send more money to Chicago....

Welcome to the Reader‘s morning briefing for Thursday, September 14, 2017. Emanuel’s right-hand man steps down, talks Rahm in 2019 Mike Rendina is stepping down from his position as a senior adviser to Mayor Rahm Emanuel to take an unnamed job in the private sector, freeing him up to work part-time on the 2019 mayoral campaign, the Sun-Times reports. Emanuel hasn’t announced his candidacy yet, but Rendina said be “shocked” if Emanuel doesn’t enter and win the race....

Courtesy of the author Bill Hillmann Reader staffers share stories that fascinate, amuse, or inspire us. • That Chicago writer Bill Hillmann was (somewhat ironically) gored while running with the bulls in Spain? —Jerome Ludwig • About how yoga’s not just for white people? —Aimee Levitt

It’s officially spring, and there’s plenty to do to celebrate. Here’s some of what we recommend: Thu 3/23: Hidden Figures Revealed at the DuSable Museum of African American History features a panel discussion with computer scientist Andrea Berry and astrophysicist Jedidah Isler inspired by the film Hidden Figures. 7:30 PM

Superdawg Drive-In 6363 N. Milwaukee Runner-Up Gene & Jude’s

Pick Me Up Cafe 3408 N. Clark

Urban Pooch Canine Life Center 4501 N. Ravenswood Runner-Up Jameson Loves Danger

835 N. Michigan 312-440-3166 shopwatertower.com Runner-Up John Hancock Center

—Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, Chicago alderman and new Democratic Socialists for America member Everything was coming up roses on the University of Illinois at Chicago campus. Red rose symbols were emblazoned on scarlet T-shirts, branded on pinback buttons affixed to messenger bags and backpacks, printed on brochures and pamphlets, and projected onto the walls of a lecture hall in the student center on the east side of the school’s grounds. One would’ve been forgiven for mistaking the gathering for a conference of professional florists....

John Garfield in Body and Soul (1947), screening Saturday at 2 PM This weekend Block Cinema at Northwestern University concludes two series of studio-era American movies, each one programmed in conjunction with a different art exhibit at the Block Museum (and both presented entirely from 35-millimeter). The first of these, Moving Pictures, corresponds to an exhibit of photos by Edward Steichen and Andy Warhol. Steichen’s is the dominant personality here—his bold lighting schemes, which often emphasize the vertical dimension of the frame, make all his human figures look like movie stars and all his location shots look like movie settings....

Paul John Higgins Bound volume of the Reader from December, 2003; Paul Koob and Ivan Brunetti’s comics are pictured. This is typically the time of the year when the Reader publishes its annual Photo Issue. But it occurred to us that social media— Instagram and Facebook in particular—has made photography more prevalent than ever. So we thought that this year we’d devote a special issue to something we see less of in print and online: comics....

Hamid Drake and Michael Zerang played their first sunrise percussion concert in 1990. Timed to coincide with the winter solstice, the performance was an open-invite gesture, nonpreachy spiritual gesture to welcome all their friends who felt out of place attending more conventional holiday-oriented festivities. Twenty-eight years later, much of the country feels like it could use a reminder about the merits of inclusion, but this event has become a tradition unto itself; many people return annually to observe the beginning of the year’s shortest day by listening to two master drummers match rhythms and sounds played on percussion instruments that come from all around the world....

Chinese Lunar New Year Celebration Dance shows, art displays, and a performance by the China National Peking Opera at the Art Institute. Sat 1/28, 10:30 AM-4:30 PM, Art Institute of Chicago, 111 S. Michigan, 312-443-3600, artic.edu, free with museum admission. Chinese New Year Brunch MingHin Cuisine in Chinatown hosts a celebratory brunch before the annual Lunar New Year Parade, including dim sum, shrimp dumplings, barbecue pork buns, and more. Sun 2/5, 10:30-11:30 AM, MingHin Cuisine, 2168 S....

Like many subversive sounds before it, techno exerts an influence on music at large but feels a world apart. To newcomers, its immense history can appear subterranean and impenetrable, its legends unknown outside the club scene that birthed them. Detroit DJ and producer Carl Craig, a second-­generation techno veteran who began releasing music in the early 90s, is one of the rare heroes worshipped both within his community and outside it....