Now, there are things that are summer no-brainers, such as Lollapalooza, Pitchfork, Hyde Park Art Fair and the like. But if you’re expecting to see these, you won’t. We aren’t doing gimmes here. What we do have is a guide to summer that we’ve vetted for your pleasure. So get busy.
Go see music outside
We aren’t going to tell you where to do that, because … well, yes we are. Essentially you can choose between two contenders, Millennium Park and Ravinia. Depending on where you live, that decision might already have been made, but allow us to try to mess it up for you.
There are arguments for each. Ravinia’s pop music programming is, as always, full of compelling offerings. It’s the Establishment, compared with Mill Park’s edgy young’un. Ravinia rolls out with the likes of Sting, Sheryl Crow, Carrie Underwood and Counting Crows. Cool cred comes from the Swell Season.
Many of the same things could be said for Millennium Park. But there are one or two things that can’t be said about Ravinia — like everything at Millennium Park is free. Thing No. 2 is that the Millennium Park pop and rock offerings are big, giant, crazy cool, including She and Him, The Cool Kids, Volcano! and Hum.
You can make your own call on cool cred versus big, but for us, that whole free thing tips the scales in favor of Millennium Park.
Millennium Park is located at 100 N. Michigan Ave. For more information, visit millenniumpark.org
Ravinia Festival is located at Green Bay and Lake-Cook Roads in Highland Park. For more, visit ravinia.org
Hit a festival
Summer is street festival time.
The larger ones are sort of like mini Taste of Chicagos. Some of the smaller ones can have bad food, coupled with bad bands. But we’d like to direct your attention to three fests that will make you change your mind about getting out and getting busy in the streets.
Custer’s Last Stand (June 19-20) is an Evanston mainstay that combines food, drink, family fun and entertainment. The mood is as friendly as can be, and if you want to visit a fest where you see kids bouncing around like particles in a supercollider, this is the one for you. The mood is such that nobody gets all that angry about the fest blocking access to certain parts of southern Evanston, because everybody is just so nice.
Visit custerfair.com for more information.
If you want to dance on the sonic edge, try one of the fests that are more music based, Do Division Street or Wicker Park Fest. The Division Street fest (June 5-6) spans about 10 city blocks, and the tastemongers at Empty Bottle Presents help program the entertainment, which explains a lot. The talent lineup includes the CoCoComas, Headlights, Jason Isbell and Pelican.
The $5 donation benefits local causes, so don’t be shy about reaching into the pocket.
Visit do-divisionstreetfest.com for more information.
Wicker Park Fest (July 31-Aug. 1) offers up more of the same as Division Street, which is to say good food, quality hanging out and excellent music, including Cap’n Jazz, Plants & Animals and the wondrous Torche.
Visit wickerparkbucktown.com for more information.
Road trip
In the not-so-far-away Peoria County await three days of musical camp (with a real camping site) at the Summer Camp music festival. Past performers have included Willie Nelson, The Roots and Keller Williams.
Friday through Sunday at Three Sisters Park, Chillicothe; etix.com, summercampfestival.com
We think it is worth crossing the state line for Summerfest, 11 days of some of the top acts in music. Usher, Eric Clapton, Brooks and Dunn, Modest Mouse, Justin Bieber with Sean Kingston, Public Enemy, Sheryl Crow, Carrie Underwood, O.A.R., the Wailers, Guster, Dierks Bentley, Counting Crows, American Idols Live! and Santana with Steve Winwood; just in case you had to think about it.
June 24-July 4 at 200 N. Harbor Drive, Milwaukee; 414-273-2680, summerfest.com
Enter breeze from stage left
Think of theater like a turkey burger — it’s just going to taste different outdoors. And what better place to experience that than at Theater on the Lake, the open-to-the-breezes venue at Fullerton Avenue and the lakefront. This little Park District spot spends every summer staging the greatest hits of the previous Chicago theater season, a week at a time for each show. Some standouts this year:
•“The Second City’s 50th Anniversary Revue” (June 16-20), a touring company show
•“Abigail’s Party” (June 30-July 4), the hit production from A Red Orchid Theatre of the Mike Leigh comedy
•“Mary’s Wedding” (July 21-25), the moving Rivendell Theatre Ensemble production of a World War I love story
•“Under Milk Wood” (Aug. 4-8), the Dylan Thomas classic, as produced by Caffeine Theatre
Single tickets are $17.50; a season subscription is $110. Tickets go on sale June 8 through the Park District at 312-742-7994.
And now, ladies and gentlemen …
Direct your attention to the center ring, the amazing cirque-style shows of the season. There are always some good ones, and this summer is no exception.
•“Hephaestus: A Greek Mythology Circus Tale”: The current four-star attraction. There are no circus rings, but there’s a seven-person high-wire act without a net, a dazzling toss-and-catch flip performed by the 12-year-old Fabio Anastasini and his brother, and a knockout, Chicago-made show by Tony Hernandez for Lookingglass Theatre that tells a moving story of the Greek god of the forge. Through June 20 in the Goodman’s Owen Theatre, 170 N. Dearborn St.; $25-$70 at 312-443-3800 and goodmantheatre.org
•“Lookingglass Alice”: Another former hit by Lookingglass Theatre returns. June 16 to Aug. 1 in the Water Tower Water Works, 821 N. Michigan Ave.; 312-337-0665 and lookingglasstheatre.org
•“Cirque Shanghai: Cloud 9”: Opening Friday, this is Cirque Shanghai’s fifth straight summer on Navy Pier. The daredevil motorcycle riders, aerialists and ladder balancers all hail from China. Friday to Sept. 6 on the Skyline Stage on Navy Pier; $14.50-$19.50 for adults; $12.50-$14.50 for ages 3 to 12 at Ticketmaster outlets
•“Cirque Dreams Illumination”: A new tour from the creators of “Cirque Dreams Jungle Fantasy.” June 2-6 at the Bank of America Theatre, 18 W. Monroe St.; $25-$75 at 800-775-2000 and broadwayinchicago.com
Quiet contemplation sounds great — can it wait?
If it’s time for you to blow off some steam, elevate energy levels and howl at moons, these shows are for you:
•“Fuerza Bruta: Look Up”: Thumping music, overhead dancers and running through walls — the touring, Argentinean production is a party you can call theater. Don’t: Wear expensive clothes. Do: Be uninhibited. Extended run at the Auditorium Theatre, 50 E. Congress Parkway; $50-$80 at 800-982-2787 and broadwayinchicago.com
•“Million Dollar Quartet”: Great balls of fire, the surprise-hit jukebox musical just keeps on surprising. The first Chicago cast just nabbed Tony nominations on Broadway; the four new rock ‘n’ rollers are almost as foot-stomping as Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Elvis and Johnny Cash. Through Sept. 5 at the Apollo Theater, 2540 N. Lincoln Ave.; $59.50-$80 at 773-935-6100 and ticketmaster.com
•“Low Down Dirty Blues”: A little dirtier, a little bluesier, anything but staid. This world-premiere show about an after-hours jam session will star Felicia P. Fields and Mississippi Charles Bevel. Thursday through June 4 at Northlight Theatre, 9501 Skokie Blvd., Skokie; $39-$54 at 847-673-6300 and northlight.org
Open air entertainment
Nothing says summer like sitting in a big honking arena jamming out to your favorite band. In the south suburbs there’s First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre (19100 S. Ridgeland, Tinley Park; 800-745-3000, ticketmaster.com), where you can catch Christina Aguilera (July 25), the Jonas Brothers and Demi Lovato (Aug. 7) and John Mayer (Aug. 14); and Country Club Hills Theater (4116 W. 183rd St., Country Club Hills; 708-798-8133, countryclubhillstheater.org) with coming performances by Toni Braxton (June 5), Eric Benet (July 10) and Smokey Robinson (Aug. 28).
Having trouble justifying a day indoors at the museum when warm weather calls? Experience the best of both worlds on Tuesdays (free day!) at the Museum of Contemporary Art, which hosts the City of Chicago Farmers Market starting June 8. If you plan your afternoon right, you’ll catch the start of the museum’s weekly Tuesdays on the Terrace jazz concerts, which kick off June 1 and continue through October. Save the date for Tuesday, July 13, when musician and journalist Eric Davidson will sign copies of his new book, “We Never Learn: The Gunk Punk Undergut, 1988-2001, in the second-floor lobby.
220 E. Chicago Ave.,312-280-2660; mcachicago.org
Everything must go
If you’ve bought any cheap art by local artists in the last decade, it’s highly likely you own a piece by Derek Erdman: The pop art painter has made more than 4,000 paintings in the 14 years he’s lived in Chicago, and sold more than 3,000. On Aug. 14, High Concept Laboratories will host “Without Wax: 14 Years of Derek Erdman in Chicago,” a farewell exhibition for the prolific painter who will relocate in fall to Austin, Texas. Not only will Erdman’s signature paintings and drawings be for sale, but also every last personal item and collector’s object in the eclectic artist’s possession, priced at $0.01 and up.
High Concept Laboratories, call for address: 312-834-4290; nationalheadquarters.org
Art history 101
Organized by the Ansel Adams-founded Aperture Foundation, “The Black Panthers: Making Sense of History” quietly landed at the DuSable Museum of African American History last month, featuring more than 50 historic photographs commemorating the Panthers’ 40th anniversary. In addition to the touring collection of Stephen Shames’ images of demonstrations, protests and behind-the-scenes powwows, the DuSable has enhanced the exhibit with Black Panther Party artifacts from its collection. On June 10 in tandem with the exhibit, BPP affiliates and local Black Wall Street district president Ron Carter will lead a conversation titled “All Power to the People: ‘What We Want, What We Believe,'” exploring who the Panthers were, what they did and their effect on the modern civil rights movement.
DuSable Museum of African American History, 750 E. 56th Place; 773-947-0600; dusablemuseum.org; general admission, $10, members, $5
Brush up on gay rights via ” San Francisco in the 1970s: Photographs by Jerry Pritikin,” Gage Gallery’s homage to June Pride Month. Local gay rights activist Pritikin’s historical images focus on the Bay City’s famous Castro neighborhood, which came of age in the late ’60s and early ’70s alongside politician and activist Harvey Milk. Now 73, Pritikin says, “When I took these photos, I never thought they would become a marker in history.” The artist’s reception takes place June 3 at the gallery.
Gage Gallery at Roosevelt University, 18 S. Michigan Ave.; roosevelt.edu/gagegallery
In the neighborhood
The annual back-to-school Bud Billiken Parade is a family delight with local leaders and groups staffing the hand-shaking and waving duties on community floats, a host of marching bands and drill squads keeping the crowds entertained, and many special guest and celebrity appearances. The fun continues with entertainment and food at the after-parade picnic in Washington Park.
The parade is Aug. 14 and starts at 39th Street and King Drive; 773-536-3710, explorechicago.org
You might want to bring a whole lot of hand wipes if you like the ‘cue, but there’s more to do at Ribfest in Naperville than eat ribs from national vendors (there are vegetarian options also) at this Fourth of July fest. Two stages of music with a lineup that is impressive for a neighborhood festival includes the Charlie Daniels Band, Julianne Hough, LeAnn Rimes, Los Lonely Boys, Blue Oyster Cult, Sammy Hagar and Sister Hazel. You’ll also find a party deck, carnival rides and fireworks.
July 1-4 at Knoch Park, 724 S. West St., Naperville; ribfest.net
Going international
Whether you’re a lover of hip-hop, exotic foods or introducing children to cultural activities, there’s no limit to the array of experiences at the Inner-City Muslim Action Network’s Takin’ It to the Streets — a free, daylong international festival filled with world music, Muslim scholars and social justice activists — from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. June 19 at Marquette Park.
Featured artists — Grammy-award winning hip-hop artist and actor Mos Def, R&B and soul duo Kindred the Family Soul, Malian “desert blues” rock band Tinariwen, Turkish virtuoso flautist Omar Faruk Tekbilek, hip-hop artist Brother Ali — bridge genre and cultural divides.
About 100 performers will present work across four stages; one includes a hip-hop pavilion highlighting the work of DJs, break dancers and graffiti artists nationwide. Those looking to scratch shopping or culinary itches can do so at the bazaar, which features more than 200 vendors selling everything from food and clothing to musical instruments and fragrant oils.
Additional activities include a health and wellness fair, prayer center, 3-on-3 basketball tournament, and family fun zone, where kids can enjoy face-painting, clown performances and merry-go-round rides. No wonder the single-day event conceived in 1997 expects 20,000 to attend.
streets2010.com
Contributing: Douglas George, Regina Robinson, Lauren Viera, Kevin Williams
