Things To Do In Forest Park

A block party in the midst of one of Chicago's worst-ever winters? Make like Ernest Shackleton and show off your survival skills with help from our guide. In 1914, the British explorer Ernest Shackleton set off for his third trip to the Antarctic. He brought with him a crew of stout men and the ambitious goal of crossing Antarctica via the South Pole. His ship, the Endurance, would not live up to its name—it became trapped in ice early in 1915 and finally sank 10 months later. Knowing his odds of survival were slim, Shackleton took five of his best men and journeyed hundreds of miles to South Georgia for help. He returned months later to rescue the rest of his crew, who were on the brink of dying from exposure. So, what does all this have to do with the Empty Bottle? Well, 90 years ago, people might have taken the story of Shackleton's exploits as a cautionary tale. Today, however, our friends over at the Bottle seem to have forgotten the lessons of the past. Little else could explain their decision to host Music Frozen Dancing, an outdoor block party held atop the icy tundra that was once Chicago. We don’t want to see history repeat itself when the Empty Bottle takes over the corner of Western Avenue and Cortez Street on Saturday, March 1. No human should have to endure the fate of the Endurance crew, even if this time around they’ll be rewarded with live music from Marnie Stern, Diarrhea Planet, and Heavy Times. Channeling the spirit of Shackleton, we’ve created this brief survival guide to Music Frozen Dancing. It’s got everything you need to enjoy yourself against all odds, short of building a lifeboat and sailing to the nearest whaling station. Survival Tip #1: Fill a Sleeping Bag with Chili from Reigning Chili Lord Travis Thatcher The best explorers always come prepared, so shake off those strange looks you get for carting around a waterproof sleeping bag. You’ll be the one laughing when you visit the chili tent in front of Bite Cafe. Head chef Dave Cooper will be on hand to dish out two different types of chili—both of which contain copious amounts of beer. Have a bowl of each, then make a beeline to reigning Chili Lord Travis Thatcher, the recent winner of the fourth annual Chili Synth Cook-Off. Travis just won a contest that involves chili and synthesizers, so he can’t judge you for being unconventional when you ask him to ladle a few scoopfuls into your sleep sack. He’ll even warm your heart by donating all proceeds to PAWS Chicago. Survival Tip #2: Stand Superclose to Diarrhea Planet’s Four Tube Amps Yes, their name is gross, but survival often means coming to terms with your natural bodily functions. Garage-punk six-piece Diarrhea Planet are no strangers to getting messy on stage—it’s kind of a prerequisite when you have four full-time guitarists. Being from Nashville, however, they are probably strangers to the kind of cold that has plagued Chicago all winter. It’s a good thing they have so many members, as they’ll be able to huddle close and share body heat between songs. Most audience members will follow suit, but the smartest will stand behind the stage and bask in the heat emitted from four cranked-up tube amps. Survival Tip #3: Stuff Your Jacket with Goose Island Beers When your chili bag starts to cool down, it’s time to climb out and put on the warmest of all clothing items: the drunk jacket. Fortunately, Goose Island will be on hand to help. Unfortunately, their beers aren’t actually infused with goose down. That means you’ll have to drink more than a few of the 312 urban wheat ales and IPAs that will be available throughout the day, as well as maybe one or two of the Matildas and Sophies rotated based on availability. If you need to stay sober enough to send out a distress signal, there will also be a steaming pot of spiced apple cider. Survival Tip #4: Take Refuge Inside the Bottle for a Nighttime Aftershow  Pat yourself on the back with a frostbitten hand, brave explorer—you’ve made it to the end of the day. To celebrate your success and regain your bodily sensation, head into the Empty Bottle for an aftershow that starts around 6 p.m. As opposed to the heavy hitters who were keeping the stages warm outside, the aftershow will feature up-and-coming Chicago bands The Lemons and The Morons. It’s almost cruel to throw these guys in front of a nearly frozen crowd, but they look like they’re up for the challenge with a batch of messy, jangly punk that’s sure to let the sunshine in. Survival Tip #5: Build a Bonfire with Your Saved Dollar Bills Well, you’ve made it to the end of the night. Your hands have regained sensation enough to reach for your wallet, and when you do, there’s a surprising amount of money left in there. That’s because all of the events at Music Frozen Dancing are free to the public—partly because the event’s organizers wanted it to be accessible and partly because nobody was crazy enough to work the door. Celebrate by pulling out all those Lincolns and roasting them over a log. It won’t even be the dumbest thing you did all day. No, that honor is reserved for choosing to attend a block party in single-digit weather. Photo: David Yendler

Maritime Promise Ring vets Davey von Bohlen and Dan Didier bring Maritime’s mature melodies to Subterranean’s stage  It’s easy to lose track of a band. Take Maritime, for instance. The ongoing post-Promise Ring project of Davey von Bohlen and Dan Didier, the group made some critical racket in the mid-aughts with 2006’s We, the Vehicles before gradually slowing down to part-time status. Rumors of their demise were premature, though: they’re still around, and they still pack more bittersweet melodicism into a single chorus than most bands can muster on an entire album. They’ll show the whippersnappers how it’s done during a Saturday-night show at Subterranean (2011 W. North Ave.), with their first Chicago appearance in more than two years giving Von Bohlen ample opportunity to remind fans why they fell in love with his lisp to begin with. (Saturday, 8:30 p.m.; doors open at 8 p.m. Tickets: $10+; purchase here.) “Pigeon Hill: Then and Now” Artist Jeffrey Wolin blends photography and writing in his chronicle of Bloomington, Indiana’s impoverished Pigeon Hill neighborhood Artist and writer Jeffrey Wolin’s photographs have documented the faces of Holocaust survivors and Vietnam veterans, but some of the most hauntingly personal images come from the people in his own hometown. Shot over the course of two decades, Pigeon Hill: Then and Now traces the hardscrabble lives led by residents of Bloomington, Indiana’s most impoverished neighborhood. The visual narratives hit even harder thanks to Wolin’s words, which snake through each picture and provide poetic (and usually devastating) context. Wolin will be on hand for tonight’s opening reception at Catherine Edelman Gallery (300 W. Superior St.), where he will also lead an artist talk at noon on Saturday. (Opening reception Friday, 5 p.m.–8 p.m.; Tuesday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–5 p.m.; show runs through March 1. Admission is free.) Chicago Contemporary Circus Fest Inaugural festival celebrates the aerial feats and audacious buffoonery of modern circus performance In case you couldn’t tell already, we’re very excited about the Chicago Contemporary Circus Fest. Filling the stages of Links Hall (3111 N. Western Ave.) and the Athenaeum Theatre (2936 N. Southport Ave.) with cutting-edge aerial, acrobatic, and clown acts, the fest offers no shortage of globe-spanning spectacle for fans of the modern cirque. Since we’re all about Chicago pride, we’d be remiss if we didn’t give a double shout-out to Dean Evans, the masterful Chicago clown performing this weekend as Honeybuns. Fresh off his appearance in The Ruffians’ well-received production of Burning Bluebeard, the Chicago Physical Theater vet should have no trouble holding his own with the festival’s slew of international acts. Windy City, this is your clown. (Shows run Friday–Sunday. See the full schedule and purchase tickets here.) Public Hours at the Poetry Foundation Library Explore the Poetry Foundation Library’s massive collection during special Saturday hours Since 1912, the Poetry Foundation has been one of America’s most significant archives of verse in all its forms. Since the foundation is only open during weekday business hours, you usually need to burn a vacation day to visit the foundation’s stockpiles of stanzas and similes. On one Saturday each month, though, the Poetry Foundation Library (61 W. Superior St.) throws open its doors for extended weekend hours. In addition to browsing more than 30,000 books, anthologies, and author monographs from across the decades, visitors can also listen in to the library’s extensive audio collection. Carefully restored for quality, the recordings capture the cadence and intonation of legendary poets including Gwendolyn Brooks, Robert Graves, and Langston Hughes. (Saturday, 10 a.m.–2 p.m. Admission is free.) Solar-Lighted Trail Hikes Solar-powered lights illuminate the path of evening walkers on the Old School Forest Preserve’s fitness trail As the winter night gathers around the trees of the Old School Forest Preserve (698 N. St. Mary’s Rd., Libertyville), vigilant hikers might notice soft orbs of light glowing in the darkness. These glimmers don’t belong to any will-o’-the-wisp, though—they emanate from the rows of solar-powered lights lining the preserve’s 1.3-mile fitness trail. The lights stay lit until 9 each night, giving evening strollers the chance to draw in a bracing breath of night air. Of course, the preserve also features plenty of daytime hiking opportunities. We recommend braving the snow and slush for a trip around the full 3-mile loop trail, a gravel-lined path that joins up with the Des Plaines River Trail at its most scenic point. (6:30 a.m.–9 p.m. daily through Monday, March 3. Admission is free.) Photo courtesy of Maritime

Halfway into my call with Travis Good of The Sadies, the phone started acting kind of funny. “You’re breaking up, man,” he said. “Right now there’s so much vibrato on your voice. It’s got serious tremolo. You talk like Joan Baez sings, man.” I think he meant it as a compliment. You can’t blame Travis for relating everything back to musicians. He and brother Dallas come from a musical family: their father and uncles are members of the Canadian country-rock band The Good Brothers, who have been going strong since 1969. The brothers themselves have collaborated with an extensive list of musicians and producers, recording with everyone from Neko Case to indie icon Steve Albini. Their latest victim, as it were, is Gord Downie of The Tragically Hip, who takes over frontman duties on new album Gord Downie, The Sadies, and the Conquering Sun. Technical difficulties notwithstanding, Travis had a lot to say about the album, The Sadies’ upcoming tour, and how collaborations fuel the band’s creative engine. GROUPON: When did you first meet Gord Downie, and how did the idea for a collaboration come about? TRAVIS GOOD: We met quite a long time ago, probably in 2001 or 2002. The Sadies did a few shows opening up for The [Tragically] Hip here and there. And then around 2007, we did a big tour with them across Canada. That was when we started talking to Gord about maybe doing some recording or something. G: There have been rumors about The Sadies teaming up with Gord for years. Why did it take so long to finally put a record out? TG: Well, we would go in and do one or two songs at a time and then go our separate ways. Gord would do Hip things, and we’d go off with The Sadies, and we’d meet up maybe eight months later and do the same routine—get together, write a song, record it, and see what happens. G: Gord is just the latest on the ridiculous list of artists The Sadies have collaborated with. Other names include Robyn Hitchcock, Jon Langford, and John Doe of X. Do you guys actively seek out these collaborations, or do they just fall into your lap? TG: Oh, you know, they usually fall into our lap. The first collaboration ever would have been with Neko [Case], but the second time was with Andre Williams, and that totally fell in our lap. He was making a country record for Bloodshot Records, and we were on [the label], and so it was totally just one of those things. Although we were thrilled and would have seeked it out actively. G: Some bands that have been around as long as you guys can get trapped in the habit of making the same record over and over again. Is collaborating with other musicians a way to help you avoid that? TG: It absolutely is. And it works in weird ways. Sometimes it works in ways that you wouldn’t expect. If we make a country record with John Doe, for example, maybe The Sadies are going to start backing off country for a little while. Maybe our next record will go in a different direction because we exorcized our country demons that way. G: Yeah, well, touching on that, the new record with Gord—I was listening to it earlier today, and it’s got a sort of post-punk feel to it. You go back to your earlier records, and there’s this mix of surf and country and rockabilly, and that’s really nowhere to be found on the new one. I assume Gord had a lot to do with that? TG: I don’t know why it went in that direction, but I was personally kind of surprised. I thought the obvious sound of the collaboration would be Gord leaning more on his—I hate using this word—but his “rootsier” sound. I thought it would be a lot of acoustic guitars, but when it started to get loud, I thought, “Great! That’s perfect.” We can do a folk record later. G: So if this tour goes well, are there any plans to do another collaboration with Gord? TG: I imagine … well, maybe we’ll have a big fight at the first show and that will be the end of it. G: Speaking of fights at shows, you’ve been in the band with your brother [Dallas Good] for 20 years now. How does that dynamic work? TG: We’re basically on the same page musically, and that’s pretty lucky. We’re lucky enough to have watched our dad, who plays in a band [The Good Brothers] with his twin brother and younger brother. We grew up watching what it was like to see the siblings go at it on the road, and we kind of learned how to dance around that. G: So you’ve already worked with some of the biggest names in rock music. But if you could choose the next person you could collaborate with, who would it be? TG: Whoa. Anyone? Well, we’ve talked for years about making something with Dexter Romweber. You know him, from the Flat Duo Jets? G: Yeah, I’m familiar. What if they didn’t have to be alive? Which historical musician would you most like to jam with? TG: I guess we could really round off our Canadian list of big ones if we did a record with [Gordon] Lightfoot. That would be a dream collaboration. Gord Downie, The Sadies, and the Conquering Sun play Lincoln Hall on Saturday, May 10, at 9 p.m. To purchase tickets, click here. Or check out Groupon’s deals for other concerts in Chicago. Photo: Norman Wong