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During the Emmy Awards telecast Monday night, host Kenan Thompson introduced the Ernst & Young representatives who tallied the votes. Then the second the first accountant started to deliver the expected perfunctory comments, Kenan grabbed the mic and thanked him mid-sentence. It was a brilliant bit of television humor that recognized that, sorry, audiences have absolutely no interest in hearing from these folks. Sadly, that discipline did not extend to the Television Academy CEO Frank Scherma, who gave an overlong and uninteresting talk about the glory of television or something like that. 

It's always amazing when cultural producers forget the fundamentals of what they do: entertain and retain interest. I've been to a couple of events the last week or so that deemed it necessary to hold the audience captive while someone droned on about the organizers and how hard they'd worked, or trotted out one minor politician after another to empty some word garbage on the listless crowd. One event did this for so long that I had to leave before the "reveal" of the new venue—the entire purpose of the event. (Wisely, they kept the bar open at least.)

Here's some advice to event producers: try not to ever interrupt a gathering for speeches, unless you intentionally want everyone to go home after you kill the vibe. 

 

Brian Hieggelke
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Don't let these key upcoming performances slip by you. Including Tortoise. Especially Tortoise. (Robert Rodi)

 

"Blumberg and Wuenschel center the body as their staging grounds and explore how material allows for the traditional nude to be transgressed, penetrated and turned inside-out." (Annette LePique)
 

"As a sucker for buddy comedies, I might recommend 'The Garbologists' even if it was little more than 'Rush Hour'-meets-Oscar the Grouch. This production easily exceeds those modest expectations as the plot capably flirts with big ideas such as the interplay between race and socioeconomic status." (Noel Schecter)
 

Cultural News

 

 

ART
 

MoMA Selling Eighty-One Artworks To Invest In Digital

Seventy-million dollars in art will be sold by MoMA, reports Artforum. "The sale is expected to bring $70-$100 million, with the lion's share of the funds going toward the founding of an endowment for digital media and technology at the museum and toward what MoMA in a press release characterized as 'new digital acquisitions,' and the possible launch of a streaming channel." Among the works: Pablo Picasso's 1919 "Guitare sur une table," the estimated value of which is $20-$30 million; Auguste Renoir's 1905 "Les fraises," expected to garner $3-$4 million; and Francis Bacon's 1963 triptych "Three Studies for Portrait of Henrietta Moraes," with a valuation of $35 million.
 

 

DESIGN
 

Chicago Architecture Biennial's "This Is A Rehearsal" Announces Artistic Team 

Chicago-based art collective Floating Museum takes charge of the September 2023 Chicago Architecture Biennial. "Floating Museum is a collective of artists, designers, poets and educators focused on building connections between art, community, architecture, and public institutions," CAB says in a release. "Co-directed by Jeremiah Hulsebos-Spofford, Faheem Majeed, Andrew Schachman, and Avery R. Young, the group has significant ties to communities and institutions across Chicago, with a local practice that uses site-responsive art, design, and programming to explore the infrastructure, history and aesthetics of a space." (More.)
 

CTA Weekend Staff Shortages Detailed

"CTA trains are often running with significant delays and gaps on the weekends," reports Block Club Chicago. "CTA employees said the agency is particularly short-staffed on weekends, leading to more delays, piled-up platforms after shows and at busy stops and larger intervals between trains."
 

Walter Hood Named Visiting Professor At School Of The Art Institute of Chicago

The School of the Art Institute of Chicago welcomes Walter Hood as the 2022–23 Bill and Stephanie Sick Distinguished Visiting Professor. Walter Hood (MFA 2013) is the creative director and founder of Hood Design Studio in Oakland, California. Hood Design Studio is a cultural practice that works across art, fabrication, design, landscape, research, and urbanism. He is also professor of Landscape Architecture & Environmental Planning and Urban Design at the University of California, Berkeley. (More.)
 

 

DINING & DRINKING
 

Whole Hog South Carolina Barbecue Coming To Chicago

"The Briny Swine will feature smoked meats and a big selection of South Carolina oysters and shrimp," reports Eater Chicago. The Lincoln Park "200-seater is slated for an early 2023 opening. The smokehouse and oyster bar will occupy the building that most recently housed the HopCat beer bar at the T-intersection of Clark and Wrightwood. The unique space (where Italian import Vapiano and Blockbuster Video once occupied) has remained vacant in recent years, with the exception the brief stints as a seasonal Spirit Halloween store." Siren Betty, a firm popular with local restaurants, is designing the space.
 

McDonald's CEO Describes His Fear Of Chicago Crime Stories

"Our city is in crisis," says the CEO of the highly profitable McDonald's corporation, reports the New York Post. "Chief executive Chris Kempczinski told business leaders… that McDonald's workers are hesitant to ride mass transit due to a significant increase in violent crime. He also said it has been a struggle to recruit more workers to Chicago due to concerns over quality of life. 'Everywhere I go, I'm confronted by the same question: "What's going on in Chicago?"' Kempczinski told the Economic Club of Chicago." The Sun-Times. quotes the CEO: "I love Chicago… I even talk up the Bears." But "How many people—with a show of hands here—would say they knew what the plan is?" (More.)
 

Michelin-Starred Mako Chef Opening Casual Omakase Bar In West Loop

"The celebrated chef behind two of Chicago's most sought-out upscale sushi restaurants is going casual with the fall launch of a second West Loop spot," reports Eater Chicago. "BK Park, the chef behind Juno in Lincoln Park and Michelin-starred Mako near Randolph Restaurant Row, is aiming for a mid-October opening for Tamu at 804 West Washington."
 

 

FILM & TELEVISION
 

Gunfire At "Chicago Fire" Location

Filming on "Chicago Fire" was disrupted by a shooting, "which halted production for the day and triggered NBC's security protocols. No one on the production was involved or injured," reports the Wrap. "The full cast was on-scene, and three cameras were rolling when the gunfire broke out around 1:45pm. The incident took place as exterior shots were being filmed at A.A. Rayner and Son's Funeral Home, 5911 West Madison."
 

 

MUSIC
 

Proposal Put To Park District To Restrict Mega-Music Festivals

"Festival operators may need to get Park District board sign-off for special events hosting 10,000 people or more a day in any of Chicago's public parks," reports Block Club Chicago. The Reader has the Riot Fest contracts: "Riot Fest has paid an average of $248,000 in permit fees every year since moving to Douglass Park in 2015. It has also paid tens of thousands of dollars some years in 'violations' for wear and tear sustained by the park during the festival, which brings about 45,000 daily visitors to the park during its three-day run." (More.)
 

 

STAGE
 

Hell In A Handbag Productions Announces Season

Hell in a Handbag Productions' new season celebrates twenty-one years of presenting Chicago audiences with "the best camp and parody – thus insuring the preservation of celebration of this unequivocally queer art form," the group announces in a release. Handbag's season kicks off with the world premiere of "Frankenstreisand," conceived and written by ensemble member Tyler Anthony Smith and directed by Stephanie Shaw, opening September 29. More here.
 

Electric Utility Announces $160,000 In Grants For Chicago-Area Arts

ComEd and the League of Chicago Theatres have announced funding to support local community arts organizations across northern Illinois. Through their "Powering the Arts" program, ComEd and League of Chicago Theatres has awarded $160,000 in grants to eighteen community arts organizations. (More.)
 

 

ARTS & CULTURE & ETC.
 

Concessions Made In Rail Pay And Some Working Conditions

"The railroad system is the backbone" of the country, says President Biden. With a settlement at hand, Metra trains will be running and Amtrak hopes to as well, reports the Tribune. Democratic adviser and former AFL-CIO communications aide Eddie Vale posts on Twitter that the deal "wasn't about $ but basic dignity & respect for workers which [Biden and Labor Secretary Marty Walsh] understand viscerally… No one wants a railroad strike, not the workers, not the White House, no one wants it this close to the election." (More.)
 

Brown Bear Jim Was Twenty-Seven

Jim, one of Brookfield Zoo's twenty-seven-year-old brown bears, was euthanized due to declining health associated with advanced age. The staff mourns on behalf of his millions of visitors and his brother Axhi, who arrived in 1995 as orphaned six-month-old cubs from Alaska.

 

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