Friday 4/4 – Thursday 4/10
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The first line of Britney Spears’s 2001 hit Oops!…I Did It Again is “Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah”–not exactly literature on a par with Eliot’s masterpiece. Nonetheless Spears too is serving as the jumping-off point for a group show, this one opening today at the School of the Art Institute’s 1926 Exhibition Studies Space. “The phrase lent itself to topics I was interested in–something that’s sort of on the border of being sentimental and has to do with love and failure,” says cocurator Ryan Weber. “Everyone will understand the backdrop of Britney Spears, but the idea was not to have this be an ironic show. It’s more like taking a form like that and finding another way to address those topics.” The exhibit runs through April 20 at 1926 N. Halsted; there’s a free opening reception tonight from 6 to 9. Call 773-665-4802.
Based on a holdup by four members of Butch Cassidy’s gang, Edwin S. Porter’s revolutionary 1903 one-reeler The Great Train Robbery was the first film to use camera movement, editing, dramatic close-ups, and crosscutting–between the bandits and the posse chasing them–to move the story along. The 100-year-old short will be shown tonight on a century-old hand-cranked projector as part of the Silent Film Society of Chicago’s annual gala benefit, which will also include screenings of Porter’s 1902 short Life of an American Fireman and the 1920 feature The Toll Gate, with live piano accompaniment by David Drazin. The event starts at 7 with a buffet, wine, and dessert, and the films begin at 8:15 at the Society for Arts 1112 Gallery, 1112 N. Milwaukee. Tickets are $60; call 773-205-7372 for reservations.
8 TUESDAY “If you’re taught that you should be able to have an orgasm with intercourse and you want your partner to give you oral or manual stimulation for orgasm, you may feel like there’s something wrong with you,” said local anthropologist Lisa Douglass in a 1997 Reader story on her book Are We Having Fun Yet? The Intelligent Woman’s Guide to Sex. “Women are overcoming that, and men are beginning to understand it. But it’s time to get the whole sexual culture moving toward that understanding.” The out-of-print guide, which was coauthored by Douglass’s sociologist sister, Marcia, was recently repackaged as a paperback with a new title, The Sex You Want: A Lovers’ Guide to Women’s Sexual Pleasure. Douglass will discuss the book tonight from 7:30 to 9 at Early to Bed, 5232 N. Sheridan. It’s free; call 773-271-1219.
