Stories by Marc Vitali
Gorey Details
13 Thrilling Things You May Not Know About the Mysterious Mr. Gorey
Edward Gorey was a Chicagoan. It’s amazing how many people are unaware (myself included, until recently) that the great Gorey was born in Chicago in 1925.
The Jokers Are Wild
A Still Life Artist Isn't Clowning About Portraiture
Clowns are funny. Clowns are scary. Clowns are divisive – people love ‘em or hate ‘em.
Writing in Ernest
App Helps Make Your Writing as Clear and Strong as Hemingway’s
A free new app is a fun and easy way to improve your writing. Brothers Ben and Adam Long created a program that aims to simplify your writing in the style of Ernest Hemingway.
Recommending a Theatrical "Train Wreck"
The Show Must Go On – A Big Top Tragedy Inspires Both Lunacy and Reverence
This Train Wreck isn’t really a disaster – quite the opposite – but it’s about a disaster: the tragedy that occurred in 1918 near Hammond, Indiana when an empty U.S. Army troop train crashed into a fully-loaded circus train stopped on the tracks.
Let It Beatles
You Don’t Have to be a Baby Boomer to Love The Beatles
Forgive me, but I don’t remember The Beatles arriving in America 50 years ago or their appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show.
A Hollywood Alternative
Movie Posters Reveal a Parallel History of American Filmmaking
An upcoming art exhibition promises to be a fascinating look at film history and African-American history.
Fred Rogers, Artist (and Superhero)
The Beloved PBS host was a Master of Music with Powers of Persuasion
Fred Rogers was a friend to every child -- he was also an artist and a brave citizen.
Big Country in the Big City
Find out why Nashville’s loss is Chicago’s gain
One of the finest singer-songwriters of country music is based in the Chicago area.
Stocking Full of Fond Memories
These Are a Few of My Favorite Things
Here is a list of the most memorable art I saw and heard this year. From opera in a swimming pool to barn-blazing bluegrass and forgotten artists, 2013 was a very good year for enthusiams old and new.
Peaceful, Uneasy Feeling
Sunshine and Shadows Co-Exist on New Record from One-time Chicago Songwriter
Cass McCombs returns to Chicago on Friday, December 6 to play The Empty Bottle on Western Avenue.
Pencil Him In
Finding a Creative Voice at the Swap O Rama
Besides the main arteries of museums and galleries, the Chicago area has endless capillaries of creativity.
Theater of Desire and Doom
Stage Spectacle Balances Hilarity and Emotions
Once or twice a year, a show is so breathtaking that it must be seen a second time. And you really have to see it in the theater -- once it closes, it’s gone. DVDs or on-demand cannot capture the live experience of sitting in the dark, bonding with the strangers onstage you seem to know so well. Read the Artbeat blog.
Bo Knows More Than Diddley
Rock Pioneer AND Aspiring Advice Columnist?
Yes, he was a legendary songwriter and storyteller, but recent evidence shows Bo Diddley could have had a second career as an advice columnist if he wanted.
Hungry for Art
Art Institute Curator Digests One of Her Favorite Paintings
The curator of Art and Appetite dishes on one of her favorite pop art pieces in the show, Tom Wesselman's "Four Roses."
The Modern Wing is Currently Clipped
Attention Art Institute Attendees: Annex Abridged until April
Visitors to the Art Institute hoping to see Picasso and Matisse masterworks in the Modern Wing must wait until spring. That’s when the third floor galleries of European modern art reopen.
Children’s Author or Dirty Old Man?
Meet the Graphic Artist Who Paid the Price for Being Too “Graphic”
The Three Robbers is a children’s book to cherish. The story revolves around fierce bandits who threaten violence and kidnap a little girl. But that’s OK with her – she doesn’t want to live with her wicked aunt anyway.
Ship Shape
Spellbinding Seascapes with Sunken Ships
A Chicago painter pays tribute to ships lost at sea.
Exuberant “Rascals” Return to the Spotlight
Long Dormant ‘60s Band Erupts On Stage
You get the distinct feeling that this is a band that a) wants to make up for lost time and b) has something to prove. They accomplish both in the feel-good show of the season.
The Art of the Terrorist
Field Museum Exhibition Looks at Nazi Propaganda
It’s profane to even call it “art.” Art usually inspires a viewer to think deeply. But this art wasn’t about inspiring -- it was about conspiring.
Get off the Couch and Go to SOFA
“Sculpture Objects Functional Art” = Lots of Cool Stuff
SOFA CHICAGO is the exceptional art fair devoted to design, and this year marks its 20th anniversary. It fills Festival Hall at Navy Pier through Sunday.
A British Knight's Chicago Sculpture
Late Sculptor Has Prominent Work in Chicago
English sculptor Sir Anthony Caro died last week at the age of 89. This was big news in the art world, where his abstract works created a new language for the medium. In Chicago, it wasn't news.
Pool of Talent
A Theatrical Approach to Opera Performed on a Liquid Stage
One of the more daring highlights of the fall arts season promises to be Chicago Opera Theater’s staging of the mythical romance “Orpheus and Eurydice.”
Buon Giordano!
Sensational Jazz Dance Served with a Side of Chicago History
Giordano Dance Chicago promises something extraordinary when Escape Ordinary opens their fall season at The Harris Theater at Millennium Park this weekend.
The Ghost with the Most
Spooky and Spellbinding, "The Woman in Black" Haunts the Western Suburbs
An ideal play for the Halloween season, The Woman in Black relies on Gothic ghosts instead of gore.
Bring the Binoculars
You Might Need a Visual Aid for this Art Show to Come Into Focus
Binoculars are for sightseeing or the cheap seats at the opera house, but an exhibition at the Elmhurst Art Museum would be even more pleasurable with a pair of field glasses.
Trending
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