Friday 7/23 – Thursday 7/29
Mexican musician Jorge Reyes combines ancient instruments like conch shells and carved stone whistles with guitars and keyboards to create music that looks to his country’s future as well as its past. He performs tonight at 9 (doors open at 8) at Apollo’s 2000, 2875 W. Cermak. Tickets are $25. Call 773-247-0200.
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The way the local chapter of Watsonians talk, you’d think Dr. John H. Watson had been a real live person instead of a figment of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s imagination. Today the group will celebrate Watson’s “life” at the 40th running of the Silver Blaze, which commemorates a case about a missing racehorse. It’s the second event in a “Watsonian weekend” that includes dinner on Friday and brunch tomorrow. Today’s brunch-and-race event begins at 11:30 at Hawthorne Race Course, between Laramie and Cicero on 35th Street in Cicero. It’s $27; appropriate dress is required. Call 847-674-1140 to register.
If people who want to participate in today’s Chicago Park District-sponsored unity drum circle don’t have something to bang on, they can come early and make a soda-can shaker at a workshop led by drumming aficionado John Yost. “Everybody has an innate rhythm,” he says. “We try to bring it out.” The workshop is from 3 to 4; the free drum circle, which is open to all, runs from 4 to 7 west of Buckingham Fountain in Grant Park, Columbus and Congress. Call 773-286-0605 for more.
When Frank Melcori moved to Chicago 20 years ago, he was struck by the “wide-open spaces and great energy” of the city, as well as the number and diversity of racial insults he heard. Before he packs his bags and heads west to join his girlfriend, Melcori will perform a farewell monologue, The Four Last Slurs, about his time here and why he’s leaving. He’ll split the bill with dancers Bob Eisen and Asimina Chremos, who perform as part of the Chance Dance Festival. It’s tonight at 8 at Link’s Hall, 3435 N. Sheffield. Admission is $5. Call 773-281-0824.
