Time Out Chicago news

If you've resolved to learn how to dance this summer (or just want to have a good time grooving outdoors), you'll want to explore the Chicago SummerDance schedule. The event series returns to parks throughout the city from June 26 through August 24, allowing attendees to take a free dance lesson and then show off what they've learned with musical accompaniment from a live band. The Spirit of Music Garden in Grant Park hosts evening dance lessons on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays throughout the summer (except when Taste of Chicago and Lollapalooza take over the park). As usual, there's a wide array of styles to learn about, from swing and salsa to Indian folk dancing (June 30) and Bachata (July 28). SummerDance moves to parks throughout the city on Wednesday nights, offering contra and square dancing lessons at Theatre on the Lake (June 26), steppin' lessons in Jackson Park (July 24) and Brazilian zouk lessons in Willye B. White Park (August 7). Plus, during Taste of Chicago, you'll be able to visit a stage by Buckingham Fountain to work up an appetite will mastering house, salsa, country and swing dance moves. As usual, the SummerDance music concludes on Saturday, August 24 with a gigantic celebration in Millennium Park, where attendees will be able to join dance parties at the Bean and the Great Lawn or take in professional dance performance at Pritzker Pavilion. Browse the complete Chicago SummerDance schedule below and find some time in your busy schedule to

While the Millennium Park Summer Music Series may be the most popular option for free concerts, not all of the season's best gratis shows take place outdoors. Since opening its doors in 2017, House of Vans Chicago has presented the annual Summer House Parties series inside a converted West Loop warehouse, bringing a lineup of hip-hop, indie rock and punk acts to the stage. Today, House of Vans Chicago revealed the lineup for its 2019 Summer House Parties series, which kicks off on May 31 with a show headlined by West Coast rapper Vince Staples. Other highlights include reunited ‘90s alt-rockers the Breeders, rapper and drummer Anderson .Paak (who also headlines Huntington Bank Pavilion on June 4), a tribute to the Vans Warped Tour overseen by Taking Back Sunday and one of the only reunion shows that New York dance-punk band the Rapture will play this summer. There's also an unannounced surprise guest slated to perform on August 15—your guess is as good as ours. Just like last year, the headlining performer at each House of Vans concert will act as the event's curator, selecting the opening acts and the visual artists tapped to create murals and installations. The complete bill for each concert will be revealed when RSVPs open, which typically occurs about two weeks before each concert. Tickets to every show are free with an RSVP via the House of Vans website, though admission is first come, first served, so you'll need to line up early to lock down a spot. Check out the c

On Monday night, all eyes were on Chicago as the James Beard Awards commenced at the Lyric Opera in the Loop. The prestigious annual event honors the best chefs, restauranteurs and designers across the country. Think of it as the restaurant industry's Academy Awards. In 2018, Fat Rice chef Abe Conlon was Chicago's lone winner (Best Chef: Great Lakes), but this year, the city has four reasons to celebrate. Carb extraordinaire Greg Wade of Publican Quality Bread won Outstanding Baker for his top-notch breads, which are featured on menus at some of the best restaurants in Chicago. Kevin Boehm and Rob Katz of Boka Restaurant Group took home an award for Outstanding Restaurateur for their work on beloved Chicago institutions like Boka, Girl & the Goat and Momotaro—just to name a few. The group welcomed Cira, Cabra and Lazy Bird to the fold last month, too. Beverly Kim and Johnny Clark, the husband-and-wife duo behind Korean-steeped Parachute in Avondale, nabbed the title for Best Chefs: Great Lakes. Nominees for the category included Diana Dávila of Mi Tocaya, Jason Hammel of Lula Cafe, Anna and David Posey of Elske, Noah Sandoval of Oriole and Lee Wolen of Boka. Finally, New York-based designers Parts and Labor Design took home an award for Outstanding Restaurant Design (76 seats and over) for their work at River North newcomer Pacific Standard Time. (We're counting it as a win for Chicago—don't @ us.) Chicago will continue to host the culinary awards through 2027. To find out

Most locals actively avoid the crowds at Navy Pier unless they're hosting tourists—and even then it can take some convincing to go. Later this month, the Pier entices Chicago to reconsider with a new 36,000-square-foot rooftop deck called Offshore. The self-proclaimed "largest rooftop deck in the country" (we're still fact-checking that detail) will open in May with indoor and outdoor space, a kitchen, seven fire pits and a gaming area. Offshore sits above Navy Pier's Festival Hall, which is located at the end of the pier. From this vantage point, guests should be treated to sweeping views of Lake Michigan and the Chicago skyline. RECOMMENDED: 19 new rooftops and patios to check out this summer Chef Michael Shrader (Monnie Burke's) will helm the kitchen, offering "seasonal, modern American cuisine with global influences served as small, shareable plates." Overseeing the beverage program is Clay Livingston, an unfamiliar face who formerly managed the Red Herring Lounge in Louisville. The drinks will be driven by the season, with a lychee-infused sipper and a "fruit-forward cocktail in a bag" already in the works. Good news for adults: Offshore is only open to guests who are 21 and over, so there won't be youngsters running around this rooftop deck. The 20,000-square-foot outdoor terrace is outfitted with communal and high-top tables, globe lighting, fire pits and parasols. There's also a stage set up on the southeast end of the terrace for live music and entertainment. Back

Toward the end of his recent film The Image Book, director Jean-Luc Godard quotes Bertolt Brecht in saying: “In reality, only a fragment carries the mark of authenticity.” This is a fitting epitaph to a film, and a career, characterized by its radical, collage-like approach to juxtaposing image and sound. It would have been equally appropriate, though for very different reasons, for this quote to appear in Black Mother, a visually astonishing and deeply spiritual love letter to Jamaica made by the acclaimed American filmmaker and photographer Khalik Allah. While The Image Book primarily uses clips from other films to illustrate the misrepresentation of the Arab world in the West, Black Mother uses fragments of footage Allah shot by himself in his mother’s home country of Jamaica, on a variety of film and video formats (Hi8, miniDV, Super 8, 16mm and high-definition digital) over a span of 20 years. Chicagoans will have a chance to see the kaleidoscopic result, which is best experienced on a large screen, when the film receives its local premiere run at the Facets Cinematheque from Friday, May 3 through Thursday, May 9. Although Allah’s mother does appear in the film, the title is a reference to the notion of Jamaica as an ancestral homeland, a place the director has visited since the age of three and which he puts on screen in a captivating fashion. Black Mother is cleverly structured into three sections—referred to as “trimesters”—that speak volumes about both the history a

It wouldn't be summer in Chicago without Taste of Chicago, the annual city-sanctioned food festival that takes over Grant Park July 10–14. Earlier today, organizers announced the lengthy vendor lineup, with a total of 82 local restaurants, chefs and food trucks participating. The list offers a whopping 37 first-timers, including A Place by Damao, Luella's Gospel Bird and Yvolina's Tamales. Like always, Taste of Chicago is free to attend, with food tickets available for purchase (14 tickets go for $10). Each vendor offers a curated selection from its regular menu as well as small "Taste of" portions that go for $3 each. Another perk of the massive food festival is the accompanying music lineup, which will be announced early next month and has included acts like Weezer and Passion Pit in years past. Of-age attendees can also enjoy the Malört-spiked Chicago Mule cocktail at the CH Vodka Cocktail Lounge by Buckingham Fountain. Goose Island and Stella Rosa will pour beer and wine, respectively. Take a look at the 37 new vendors joining the Taste of Chicago lineup below, and check out the full lineup here. 90 Miles Cuban Cafe A Place by Damao Bar Takito Barangaroos Aussie Pies Ben's Bar-Be-Cue Big Wang's Chinese Street Food Black Dog Gelato Brazilian Bowl Inc. Buscia's Bacon Buns Coastline Catering Da Pizza Dude DMen Tap Dog Haus Egg Rolls Etc. Fronen Gordo's Homemade Ice Cream Bars Hakka Bakka Indian Kati Rolls Jason's Deli Jeannie's Flan Inc. Jeni's Sple

The hit musical Hamilton may have debuted on Broadway, but creator Lin-Manuel Miranda will launch “Hamilton: The Exhibition” in Chicago, gracing Northerly Island with an immersive, stand-alone show (housed in a customized temporary structure) that allows visitors to follow Alexander Hamilton’s path from immigrant to a framer of the Constitution. More than a simple display of props, costumes and artifacts, “Hamilton: The Exhibition” uses the popular musical as a jumping-off point for a multimedia exploration of key moments throughout Hamilton's life. Before it opens to the public on April 27, the exhibit’s creative director (and the musical’s set designer) David Korins spoke with us about five things that visitors can expect from this one-of-a-kind experience. RECOMMENDED: Everything you need to about seeing Hamilton in Chicago 1. Lin-Manuel Miranda in your earUpon entering the exhibit, guests are given headsets that are triggered by sensors placed throughout the space, allowing Miranda to serve as the narrator of Hamilton’s journey from orphan to founding father. Some items and areas inside the exhibit come equipped with even more audio information, which visitors can access by pushing a button on their lanyards. “People who want to read and engage in every single thing can spend more than two hours in the exhibit,” says Korins. 2. An extended journeyWhereas Hamilton abridged many parts of its protagonist’s life, the 20,000-square-foot showcase has more than enough room to

Over the last four days, your newsfeed has likely been inundated with updates from a galaxy far, far away by way of Star Wars Celebration, a massive convention that took over McCormick Place this weekend. Fans were treated to news of the ninth installment in the saga, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, and an accompanying trailer that depicts Rey backflipping over spaceships and teases the return of the evil Emperor Palpatine. Guests also got a sneak peek of the immersive Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge attraction opening at Disneyland and Walt Disney World later this year, as well as a sneak peek at The Mandalorian, a live-action Star Wars TV series that will premier on the Disney+ streaming platform in November. Whether you walked the convention floor in McCormick Place or just happened to be on a Green Line train this weekend, you probably also noticed hundreds of Star Wars fans dressed in Jedi robes, Stormtrooper uniforms, Mandalorian armor and smugglers' jackets. Frankly, the amount of great cosplay at Star Wars Celebration was overwhelming—nearly every time you turned a corner, you were confronted by someone dressed in a detailed Darth Vader costume or radio-controlled replica of R2-D2 beeping and whistling as it rolled by. After spending an afternoon in the thick of the convention, we brought back photos of our favorite costumes (and some amazing droids) that we encountered during Star Wars Celebration. Photograph: Jaclyn Rivas Photograph: Jaclyn Rivas Photograph

There's only one way to get into Janitor's Closet, a secret new speakeasy that's hidden inside boutique hotel FieldHouse Jones. Guests walk through the hotel lobby and take a staircase to the lower level before entering a door marked "Employees Only." Once inside, curiosity seekers are rewarded with intriguing cocktails and an ultra-intimate setting. The aptly named bar is housed inside an actual former janitor's closet, a relic of the building's past as Borden Dairy Depot. Janitor's Closet has just 15 seats, including stools at the bar and booths made to look like seats from an old school bus. The interior is decked out in antiques from flea markets and thrift shops, and the walls are lined with Pine-sol boxes, shaggy mops and vintage paint canisters. Jef Tate (Moneygun) oversees the bar program, with a menu of riffs on classic cocktails crafted with intriguing ingredients like okra-infused vermouth and black garlic kombucha. The Brown Line blends mezcal, tequila, pineapple, tamarind and lime, while the Cafe Con Leche Flip is a pick-me-up in a glass with rum, coffee, heavy cream, simple syrup and egg yolk. "When people come into Janitor’s Closet, I want them to get the vibe that they can be anywhere in the world," says Tate. "I want the space to evoke a sense of wanderlust, and be a place where locals and travelers can meet, share stories and feel the comfort of being surrounded by friends and family." The bar menu also includes wine and locally crafted beer from the lik

You might want to take off your AirPods the next time you're waiting for a train at the recently overhauled 95th/Dan Ryan Red Line Terminal. On Monday, Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the CTA unveiled two new installations created by local artist and Stony Island Arts Bank founder Theaster Gates, most notably a 200-square-foot broadcast studio and DJ booth that will produce audio programming for Red Line commuters. Called An Extended Song of Our People, Gates's installation will broadcast real-time programming—including live music and sets from local DJs—over the 95th Street Station's public address system (a streaming version of the station that can be accessed online is also being considered). While no schedule has been released, plans for the installation's programming outlined by the CTA include regular weekday DJs, DJs-in-residence and time for Chicago residents to take part in conversations and debates. Gates told the Sun-Times that he wants playlists to reflect “the music of these times and the music of the past of black and brown people.” On the south end of the terminal, Gates also revealed a pair of large hanging tapestries, entitled america, america. Made from decommissioned fire hoses, the works are meant to symbolize the history of the civil rights movement in America, referencing the high-pressure hoses that were turned against African American protesters in Birmingham, Alabama, in the ’60s. Take a look at photos and renderings of the 95th/Dan Ryan Terminal's new broa