Friday 12/3 – Thursday 12/9
A new downtown open-mike night was started just last month by poet Nina Corwin and Michael C. Watson of WLUW 88.7 FM’s Wordslingers. They call it Word Dealers, and it takes place tonight (and every Friday) at 7 at Gourmand Coffeehouse, 728 S. Dearborn. It’s free. Call 312-427-2610.
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4 SATURDAY Thirty years ago today Black Panthers Fred Hampton and Mark Clark were shot to death in their sleep when FBI agents and Chicago police officers broke into their house at 2337 W. Monroe and opened fire. Today from 12 to 2 the National People’s Democratic Uhuru Movement will hold a candlelight vigil at the home, and later members will host an African feast and cultural celebration from 6 to 10 at Fred Hampton Uhuru House, 5409 S. Halsted. Hampton’s widow (and the mother of Fred Jr., who is in prison), Akua Njeri, will speak. It’s $5. Call 773-924-7072. Tomorrow the Autonomous Zone will screen the 1989 documentary The FBI’s War on Black America, followed by a discussion with local filmmaker Denis Mueller and journalist Sisi Donald Mosby. It’s at 2012 W. Chicago, and it’s free. Call 773-486-1823.
Cuban lute player Barbarito Torres, who appeared briefly in The Buena Vista Social Club, specializes in guajira, the bluesy music of his home, the rural area of Matanzas. He performs tonight at 8 at HotHouse, 31 E. Balbo. Tickets are $15. Call 312-362-9707.
9 THURSDAY The Kyoto-based performance group and arts collective Dumb Type combines dance, music, computer graphics, video, disco lights, and hospital gurneys in their latest offering, OR, a piece ostensibly about the borders between life and death. It opens tonight at 8 (and runs through Sunday) at the Museum of Contemporary Art theater, 220 E. Chicago. Tickets are $18, $15 for students and seniors. Call 312-397-4010 or see the Critic’s Choice in Section Two for more information.
