New York-based cellist Daniel Levin is in the midst of another busy year, toggling between rigorous free improvisation and outward-bound ensemble-oriented projects. He’s at his most visceral on the new Spinning Jenny, an abrasive improvised session with double bassist Ingebrigt Håker Flaten and percussionist Chris Corsano, where terse arco jabs and knotted-up pizzicato patterns turn up as often as snaking, exploratory lines, and the bare-knuckled attack by all three creates an exhilarating physicality....

The Block Beat multimedia series is a collaboration with The TRiiBE that roots Chicago musicians in places and neighborhoods that matter to them. Navy Pier has been a refuge for rapper Taylor Bennett and his homies for years. They aren’t drawn to it for the obvious reason, though—that is, free admission to 3,300 feet of restaurants, shops, theaters, and parks, with regular firework shows, spectacular views of Lake Michigan, and a Ferris wheel that’s just as iconic a part of Chicago’s skyline as the Sears Tower....

Writer-director Luc Besson hit the jackpot in France with The Professional (1994), starring Jean Reno as a tenderhearted hit man who takes little Natalie Portman under his wing. That same year Samuel L. Jackson and John Travolta arrived as lovable killers in Pulp Fiction, and since then the assassin has become a cuddlier figure in American movies, going back to high school (Grosse Pointe Blank), working out the kinks in a professional marriage (Mr....

Matt Sayles/Invision/AP Ryan Lewis and Macklemore Reader staffers share stories that fascinate, amuse, or inspire us. • About the regulation and safety of shipping crude oil by train? —John Dunlevy • Thomas Mallon on the “slightly stoned, goofball” fiction that was popular when he was in college? —Steve Bogira

Q:I’m a 30-year-old, Asian-American, hetero-flexible cis woman. I’m also newly diagnosed with bipolar II. I’m on medication—the doctor is trying to figure that out—but no talk therapy for right now, as my last therapist wasn’t great and I haven’t managed to find a new one. My question for you is regarding the relationship between bipolar and kink. One of the common symptoms of the manic stage of bipolar is “risky sex....

There’s not much to glean from a web-difficult band name like Institute—especially when that band only appears to have a nondescript six-song demo floating around on Bandcamp. I do know, however, that Institute is from Austin and contains at least one member of Wiccans, a rough-and-tumble outfit that doesn’t so much play hardcore punk as beat you upside the head with it. Today’s 12 O’Cock Track, “Bureaucrat,” is a slovenly, postpunk jam from Institute that’s sinister both in its creeping, unadorned guitar lead and the apathetic, practically syllable-less lead vocals....

The highest purpose of bar food, in all its cheesy, starchy, pinguid, deep-fried trashiness, is to sponge up as many bad decisions as possible before you wake up with a katzenjammer. This utilitarian function has become a lesser priority in this day of cheffy haute drinking food. The smoked hummus at the Fountainhead is delightful, but how is that going to help you after six pours of Macallan? The meat and cheese plate at Scofflaw is as well curated as a museum collection, but Bacchus help you after you start chasing your swizzles with Malort....

“John Lennon at his best despised cheap sentiment and had to learn the hard way that once you’ve made your mark on history those who can’t will be so grateful they’ll turn it into a cage for you.” This sentence, from “Thinking the Unthinkable About John Lennon,” Lester Bangs’s subversive, caustic, and dead-on eulogy for John Lennon—and quoted in Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen‘s How to Be a Rock Critic—could just as easily have applied to Bangs as it did to Lennon....

1840 W. Hubbard 312-733-0098 salvageone.com Runner-Up Chicago Cultural Center

The Ox King A couple of cross-town festivals are shaping up this week: Tomorrow Never Knows begins on Wed 1/15 with Cayucas at Lincoln Hall, the Jim Jones Revue and Minor Characters at Schubas, and an in-store at Saki with Diane Coffee. The Chicago Bluegrass & Blues Festival is underway as well, which features Tiny Miles & the Big Kids at Tonic Room on Tue 1/14, and the David Grisman Folkjazz Trio at City Winery on Wed 1/15 and Thu 1/16....

puppetbike.com Runner-Up Sharkula

Uptown Underground 4707 N. Broadway Runner-Up The Dojo

Disotto Enoteca 200 E. Chestnut Runner-Up From Good Stock

4663 N. Rockwell 773-463-9642 bloomyogastudio.com Runner-Up Om on the Range

Chandler West/for Sun-Times Media Mayor Emanuel addresses business leaders downtown on Monday Chicago is a shining example for the nation, Rahm Emanuel wants all to know. He told a receptive audience downtown Monday that the goals President Obama has for the country—more jobs, a vibrant economy benefiting all—are Chicago’s goals, too, but “the difference is, we are obviously getting them done.” The president apparently agrees that his hometown is a model for America....

When Gina Rodriguez won the Golden Globe for starring as the titular character in Jane the Virgin, the CW, a network known for overwrought teen dramas, gained some respect and took a step forward in the world of female-driven television. Sure, Jane the Virgin has soap-opera elements, but really it’s a satirical comedy with a talented cast and its share of genuinely heartfelt moments. This new breed of television (and new breath of life for the CW) gives me hope that there are still plenty of good, original, female-driven shows to be had in this world, one crazy girl’s story at a time....

Although jazz musicians like Jimmy Smith, Jack McDuff, and Jimmy McGriff are some of the best-known practitioners of the Hammond B-3 organ, my entree into the funky world of organ jazz was through Big John Patton. In fact, the first organ-combo record I ever owned was not only by Patton but a 1963 session that didn’t see the light of day until it was released by Blue Note in 1986, so it was hardly considered an essential of the sound....

With the Christmas season upon us, Chicago Democrats will get in the spirit by dropping into the mud and doing a little wrestling, eye-gouging included. That’s twice as many as the 12,500 signatures a mayoral candidate needs to make the ballot. But the rule of thumb is a candidate needs at least three times the required number to survive a petition challenge. The new law neglected to stipulate a signature requirement....

Drummer Hamid Drake, bassist Kent Kessler, and saxophonist and clarinetist Ken Vandermark have been playing together as DKV Trio since 1994. During their early years, their forceful playing—which was forged and focused by frequent gigging and their ability to improvise cohesive, songlike structures—made them one of the most exciting live acts of any genre to grace a Chicago stage. But by the early 2000s, the overseas obligations of each member had multiplied, and they scaled back group performances to the point that each gig felt like a return to status quo, rather than an opportunity to further develop their sound....