Friday 2/14 – Thursday 2/20
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
15 SATURDAY Over 80 local organizations, ranging from the American Friends Service Committee to Weekly News Pakistan, are sponsoring today’s antiwar march–Chicago’s contribution to the international day of protest against war on Iraq. In addition to mobilizing opposition to the war, the event’s designed to protest and publicize the February 21 deadline imposed by the INS for the registration and fingerprinting of males over 16 from Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. (December registrations of visiting nationals of several other Arab countries led to the detention of hundreds of men and boys in Los Angeles, spawning huge protests and a subsequent class-action lawsuit.) The march starts at noon at Devon and Leavitt and will head west through the heart of the Pakistani community to Washtenaw. For more information call 888-471-0874 or 312-641-5151.
“If corporations own the memories we use to make art, then how can we work anymore? Who owns the language?” These were two of the questions NYC-based artist, writer, and musician Paul D. Miller, better known as DJ Spooky, posed to a group of Harvard students in 1998, adding, “I use samples to speak, someone else might use painting. It’s the classic example of how art can be controlled by economics. It’s all about access.” Miller will address these and other thorny questions of corporate ownership and copyright law when he participates in today’s free Public Square-sponsored debate, Who Owns Ideas? Intellectual Property Rights and Wrongs, an event staged in conjunction with the traveling exhibit “Illegal Art: Freedom of Expression in the Corporate Age.” Other participants include law professor and Stanford Center for Internet and Society founder Lawrence Lessig, National Writers Union president Jonathan Tasini, and Future of Music Coalition director Jenny Toomey. Moderated by WBEZ’s Gretchen Helfrich, the debate runs from 6 to 8 PM at the Chicago Historical Society, 1601 N. Clark. To reserve a seat call 312-799-2284. “Illegal Art” runs through February 21 at the offices of In These Times, 2040 N. Milwaukee (773-772-0100). Miller also appears earlier today, along with Public Enemy’s Chuck D and trombonist, composer, and electronic-music improviser George Lewis, as part of a symposium titled “Cyber Rhythms: The Music and the Message.” It’s from 3 to 5 in the West Pavilion of the Museum of Science and Industry, 57th and S. Lake Shore Dr., and is free with museum admission ($9, $7.50 for seniors, $5 for kids). Call 773-684-1414 or see www.msichicago.org for more.
The live bands that play the Underground Lounge’s weekly Rock ‘n’ Roll Karaoke night collectively know nearly 200 songs, organizers claim, ranging from Black Sabbath to Nena to the Stooges. Tonight’s band is the Hootenanners, who also cover Bob Seger, Poison, the Pixies, Aretha Franklin, Toni Basil, and lots more. It starts at 9 every Wednesday at 952 W. Newport (773-327-2739). There’s a $5 cover, and you must be 21. For other times and locations visit livebandkaraoke.tripod.com.
