Friday 6/16 – Thursday 6/22
The Pine Valley Cosmonauts lead interpretations of riding the lightning during The Executioner’s Last Songs, an evening of gallows laments by the likes of Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash, and Led Zeppelin. The benefit for the Illinois Death Penalty Moratorium Project features vocal turns by Sally Timms, Rebecca Gates, Janet Bean, Brett Sparks, and others. They’ll sing you back home before you die, tonight at 8 at the Old Town School of Folk Music, 4544 N. Lincoln. Tickets are $15; call 773-728-6000.
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After a grand entry procession by over 200 competitors in the Eighth Annual Native American Pow Wow, the 5,000 or so expected spectators are invited to join them in a massive intertribal dance before the contest begins. This spectacle will be repeated several times over the course of the event, which culminates Sunday with finals in six different dance categories. Doors open at 4 this afternoon and the march starts at 6 at Mather Park, California and Peterson. Admission is $6 for adults, $4 for seniors and students, $3 for children 7 to 15 (children under 7 get in free). Call 773-761-5000 for more information.
Juneteenth usually commemorates the belated delivery of the news of emancipation to slaves in Galveston, Texas, in 1865, but this year it means more to Bill Brickey. The musician’s father fought in Vietnam, and when he died last year, the VA paid for part of the funeral and a tuna-can-sized urn for his ashes, which his son keeps on his mantel. Brickey will sing and orate in honor of African-American veterans today at the Juneteenth celebration he’s organized at the Old Town School of Folk Music, which also features poets, rappers, griots, storytellers, musicians, art, dancing, and southern and African food. The party starts at 1 and goes until 8 at the school, 4544 N. Lincoln (773-728-6000). A donation is requested.
22 THURSDAY The protagonist of Reader contributor Adam Langer’s latest play, Coaster, is the author of a travel guide titled Steer Clear Chicago, about the worst the city has to offer. Langer, himself the author of a guide for artistic types trying to get over in the Windy City, has decided to move to New York for an arts-journalism fellowship at Columbia University. He leaves later this year, but the play opens tonight at 8 and runs Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays through July 15 at Chicago Dramatists, 1105 W. Chicago. Tickets are $10. Call 773-250-3166 for reservations.
