From Page to Stage
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The five-day festival includes 20 acts–many of whom have played the Bottle before, some of whom are making their Chicago premieres. United only by its performers’ collective history of avoiding orthodoxy and pushing boundaries, the roster shows off the ambitious range of genres both the magazine and the club have promoted: the vanguard electronica and techno of Adult. and Stewart Walker, the free jazz and improv of Fred Anderson and John Butcher, the off-kilter funk of !!! and James Chance, the warped hip-hop of Themselves and former Anti-Pop Consortium MC High Priest, and the assaultive rock of Lightning Bolt and Black Dice. There’s also an exhibition of visual art by Kim Hiorthoy (a Norwegian electronic-music artist who performs Wednesday), an audio installation piece by British artist Janek Schaefer, and film screenings Saturday and Sunday afternoons.
Toalson first contacted the Wire about three years ago to propose some kind of collaboration with the Bottle; he didn’t have anything specific in mind, he admits, and he got turned down. But after the magazine celebrated its 20th anniversary last year with festivals at venues in Paris and New York, Toalson decided to make another pitch. This time editor in chief Tony Herrington went for it.
