Friday 5/28 – thursday 6/3
Critical Mass’s bike-home-from-work ride on the north side last week went through the 18th District, where some of the group’s members had been arrested during a ride last fall. The most recent foray resulted in a handful of tickets, and one cheeky cyclist was arrested for chanting “Biking is not a crime.” At tonight’s ride the group will vote on whether to pass through the area again. The ride starts at 5:30 at Daley Plaza, 50 W. Washington. Call 312-474-8708 for more.
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The Lab, a two-year-old multimedia performance space and studio, will become a high-tech poetry center tonight with the eighth National Poetry Video Festival. The evening of words and watts will include live Internet and radio broadcasts, a hypertext poetry machine that animates verses and projects them onto a screen, an “electrified poetry slam” hosted by Marc Smith, and collaborations between the avant-garde German rock band Gvoon, performance poets Cin Salach and Ten Tongues, and “living art sculptor” John Dinello. Attendees are encouraged to bring their own poetry and video to create an on-site “video poem.” It’s tonight from 7 to 1 at the Lab, 329 N. Bell. Admission is $7, $5 for students. Call 773-296-1268, ext. 26, or 312-243-5949 for more information.
30 SUNDAY Interspersed among scenes of cutting-edge DJs in John Carluccio’s new “turntablist” documentary, Battle Sounds, is an interview with 80s rocker Billy Squier, who doesn’t get why the kids like to sample his old songs. Tonight Carluccio will screen the film and answer questions at a DJ convention called Night of the Round Tables. It’s hosted by DJ Sole; other jocks include DJ Swamp, Neotropic, Jesse de la Pena, and JC. Doors open at 8; the film screens at 9:30 at Metro, 3737 N. Clark (773-549-0203). Admission is $15; see Critic’s Choice in Section Three. Battle Sounds screens again Tuesday at 6 at Columbia College’s Hokin Center, 623 S. Wabash (312-344-7696). It’s free.
2 WEDNESDAY Tonight hundreds of antique, classic, and custom cars will be taken out of the garage and parked on York Street in Elmhurst as part of “Dust-off Night,” the first installment of the town’s weekly, summerlong Cool Cars Under the Stars series. The free look-see is from 7 to 9 on York south of North Avenue in Elmhurst. Call 630-993-1600 for more.
