So while True/Slant’s new owner Forbes intends to take the site in a new direction, I am deeply appreciative of the opportunity I was given to write for the site. All in all, it really was an exceptional experience.

And I really want to thank all the people who helped out with my stories, be it by giving their time to sit down for interviews, or granting me access to review their films, plays and shows. And I especially want to thank anyone who gave any of my blog posts a look over. It goes without saying that there is so much content out there, and a ton of content covering what to do in Chicago, and I encourage you to keep reading The A.V. Club, Time Out Chicago, the Chicago Reader, Chicago magazine, the Sun-Times and the Trib, among other great sites/pubs, to keep your finger on the pulse. But despite this, it means a lot that people actually did read my stuff, and hopefully they learned something new, and they were exposed to something or someone that they went on to love. Or maybe they glanced at it and went on. Whatever the case may be, thank you all very much for at least paying my blog a visit and giving it a bit of your very precious time.

I’ll be keeping plenty busy with my other gigs, including my day job for Marketing News magazine, the Marketing News Exclusives e-newsletter and Marketing News-sponsored podcasts. I’m doing tons of freelance work still for AOL’s TV Squad site and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, and I’ve got my weekly Store Brand Scorecard blog for Walletpop. But I still plan on writing about Chicago talent. If there’s a band I should hear, a play I should know about, a comedian I should see or a local film I should watch, please let me know, and I’ll see if I can pitch a story somewhere. I’m at Levypeter@aol.com, Twitter.com/PietLevy and on Facebook.

So rock on everybody! Thanks again, and enjoy life!

With Ebert sidelined from TV due to health reasons, Siskel long passed and his replacement Richard Roeper splitting from the show over creative reasons, “At The Movies” took a turn for the terrible when hosted by quote whore Ben Lyons and  Turner Classic Movies host Ben Mankiewicz. The two critics lost their post after just one season in the wake of some major criticism, and starting last fall, the Chicago Tribune’s Michael Phillips and The New York Times’ A.O. Scott, two of the finest film critics out there today, took over.

But the ratings never recovered and now Disney is letting it go. “At The Movies” is ending in just four weeks.

So why watch it now? I’d say do so to pay a little respect to a program that while different from its hey day is still about one thing at its core — a couple of passionate people talking about movies. For any movie buff, its a must, and frankly with Phillips and Scott at the helm, the show is the best its been since the Siskel-Ebert days. The two engage in enlightening, engaging back and forth that’s primarily about the films, rather than the bickering, which has become the focal point of so many debate shows from “The View” to stuff on CNN. It’s a shame that with the show getting so good again it has to now go away. Personally speaking, I can’t imagine it being off the air, considering that I’ve watched it since I was a just a kid, and recalling all the fantastic films (from “Dark City” to “Hoop Dreams” to “Where The Wild Things Are”) I was convinced to see by its hosts. But, thanks to Philips and Scott, at least the show is going out in style. Considering the circumstances, I can’t think of a better way to see the show come to an end.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Philips and Scott about the show’s end, how they got their groove and the relevance of film criticism today, and will have the interview up at Moviefone at the end of the month or in early August. Check if you’re in Chicago like I am, you can watch the show on ABC 7 at 10:35 p.m. Saturdays until August 14th. 

Bubba Weiler (left) plays the anguished, closeted teenage nephew of Doug (Kevin Anderson), who's fresh out of prison, in Joel Drake Johnson's world premiere play 'A Guide for the Perplexed,' running through August 15th at Victory Gardens Biograph Theater. Photo provided.

“A Guide for the Perplexed” playwright Joel Drake Johnson could have used a guide for the confused. His latest work, beginning its world premiere run at Victory Gardens Theater, is sharply realized at times, and it does a nice job in particular landing a subtle, satisfying final moment. But overall “Perplexed” is a peculiar and ultimately unsuccessful blend of awkward comedy and bleak melodrama. In the hands of director Sandy Shinner, and particularly ace actors Kevin Anderson and Francis Guinan, the comedy comes naturally. But the heightened drama, which Johnson clearly intends to serve as the emotional center of the story, seems forced and unnatural. Anderson’s pacing isn’t good enough, and the dialogue not nuanced enough, to lend the necessary tension, pathos and realism, and Shinner and the cast struggle with the play’s radical mood swings.

Anderson is Doug, fresh out of a 68 month, one week and two day prison sentence for nearly killing a man in a fight. Doug is sober now, relatively mellow, but he’s still got anger issues, particularly with himself. His father dead and estranged from his mother, Doug turns to his sister Sheila (Meg Thalken) for help. She’s out of town on business, but allows her brother to stay in the den of the family’s home in Glencoe, Illinois with Sheila’s tightly wound, melancholy husband Phillip and her intelligent, emotionally unstable, bitter son Andrew (Bubba Weiler). Philip was fired from his job after being accused of stealing money, and he spends his aimless days reading trashy books, grocery shopping and testing out recipes for his own mayonnaise. Andrew has little respect for his parents, cuts classes, spins lies and yearns to kill himself. Doug may have just gotten out of prison, but these two characters are in their own prisons, even if it’s within a lovely home in the Chicago suburbs. Act two brings a new character, Betty (Cynthia Baker), a financial consultant from Cincinnati who became pen pals with Doug while he was in prison. She drives in from Ohio brandishing lavish gifts, anxious and excited to see Doug in person, and to hear him read some poems that he wrote to her from prison. But all it does is awake Doug’s self-loathing, although it does open up an opportunity for him to change his life.

Anderson lends some humanity to his Doug, but the writing of the character fails him. In one scene, he’s extremely mellow and affable, and then suddenly he breaks out in a fit of intense anger. These emotions are understandable, but the character’s emotional transitions never occur organically. The same can be said of Weiler’s Andrew, who acts cool and cynical one minute, then erupts with seething misery the next. Again, understandable emotions, but an unbelievable execution. And Baker makes her Betty a sweet, quietly sad character, and plays nicely in her scenes with Anderson, but Johnson doesn’t do a good enough job showing us why this woman would be so invested in Doug, not only to write him letters in the first place, but to travel all the way from Ohio brandishing gifts that include $6,000 tickets to The Rolling Stones.

Philip is the best creation in this work, and Guinan’s performance is spot on. In humorously banal and telling, if repetitive scenes, Philip walks through his anal rules and routines, painstakingly making the bed with Doug, showing him how the blinds work and teaching him how to feed his exotic fish. It’s the only aspect of his life that he can control, and he grasps it with intensity of purpose as a way to ignore all that’s gone wrong in his life. But as with Doug and Andrew, even Philip’s actions in the more dramatic scenes feel forced. It’s hard to believe that someone so weak-willed, who rarely makes eye contact with anyone, would have the strength to injure Doug in the first act, as Johnson pens it. Harder still is to see Philip calmly read a book minutes after discovering that his son “accidentally” killed his exotic fish. Just another example of a mood swing I couldn’t swallow.

That said, there are some dramatic moments, particularly in act two, that are strong, like Philip’s calmly, sadly, suggesting divorce to Sheila, and a final moment between Doug and Andrew that, despite the pair’s uneasy, unbelievable relationship, is surprisingly moving. These scenes work because they’re subtle, because they’re believable, because they’re real. But these scenes are too few in a play that’s too long.

At least we have Philip. But hopefully we’ll have more cohesive writing and characters from Johnson the next time around.

Grade: C+

“A Guide for the Perplexed” runs through August 15th at Victory Gardens Biograph Theater, 2433 N. Lincoln. Tickets are $40-$50 and available here.

1. “The Girl Who Played With Fire” (Ongoing) — The film version of the second installment in the late Stieg Larsson’s wildly popular “Millennium” trilogy is one of the biggest foreign hits to play this year. No surprise there. But you can think local movie distributor Music Box Films for bringing the Swedish flick stateside. Music Box Theatre, 3733 N. Southport. Click here for showtimes.

2. “Inception” (Ongoing) – One of these days, Chicago-born cinematographer Wally Pfister, the man who shot out city like never before for “The Dark Knight,” is going to pick up the Oscar. Could it be for this seemingly gorgeous new sci-fi thriller, directed by “Dark Knight” director Christopher Nolan? At either rate, the film should be a feast for the eyes, especially in IMAX. (For more on Pfister, check out this great interview over at Cinematical). Navy Pier IMAX Theater, 700 E. Grand. $13-17. Click here for showtimes and to buy tickets.

3. Pitchfork Music Festival (July 16-18): If you scored tickets for one of the most anticipated fests of the summer, make sure you show the local acts some love. Friday features Chicago native comedian Hannibal Buress (4:45 p.m. at Stage B); Saturday includes psych pop band Netherfriends (1 p.m. Stage B), garage rockers Smith Westerns (5:45 p.m. Stage B); and on Sunday Spanish psychedelic ensemble Alla (1 p.m. Stage A) and improv heavy, ambient-leaning Cave (1 p.m. Stage B). Union Park, 1501 W. Randolph. Friday, 3:30-10; Saturday and Sunday 1-10.

4. Jenny Gillespie (July 17) – Singer-songwriter Gillespie lends her lovely voice to a new album “Kindred,” celebrated at this record release show. Martyrs’, 3855 N. Lincoln. 7 p.m. $7. Tickets available here.

5. Dylan Rice Band and Milhous (July 17) – The Dylan Rice Band is finally celebrating its album released in March, while Milhous, a pop and country-influenced Chicago act, reunites for the first time since 1999 for one night only in celebration of a newly released best of album. Martyrs’, 3855 N. Lincoln. 9:30 p.m. $10. Tickets available here.

6. Welcome to Ashley (July 17) – Local post punk act has a welcoming sound and a solid new effort, “Beyond The Pale.” Quenchers, 2401 N. Western. 9 p.m. $5 donation.

7. “Les Enfants Terribles—Prom Night” (July 19-August 14) – Red Tape Theatre presents a show packed with commedia, improv and circus, and boasts that folks who love 500 Clown and sensations Blue Man Group will dig this show, claiming its “unlike anything you’ve seen on the stages of Chicago.” One way to find out. The second floor at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, 621 W. Belmont. $10-20. Tickets and schedule available here.

8. Kid Sister (July 19) – If you haven’t had your chance to lend an ear to one of Chicago’s most talented, original hip hop stars, here’s your chance to see what will undoubtedly be an electric show for free on what looks to be a beautiful evening. Part of the Downtown Sound free concert series. Jay Pritzker Pavilion at Millennium Park (Michigan and Randolph). 6:30 p.m. Free.

9. “Planet Earth Live” (July 21) – No doubt the breathtaking cinematography made the landmark nature series “Planet Earth” so special, but it was George Fenton’s sweeping score that made it cinematic. Fenton conducts the Grant Park Orchestra at this show, part of the Grant Park Music Festival, alongside clips from the series. Jay Pritzker Pavilion at Millennium Park (Michigan and Randolph). 8:15 p.m. Free.

10. The Faint (July 23) – The synth is the new guitar, and dance music the new alt rock. But given its harder edge and addictive beats (and yes, some guitar), The Faint, despite working in a crowded field, is one of the finest acts of its kind out there. Metro, 3730 N. Clark St. 9 p.m. $20. Tickets here.

11. Vince Vaughn’s Wild West Comedy Show (July 23) — Chicago guy and future father Vaughn resurrects his solid stand-up comedy tour from 2006 for one night in Chicago. Kevin James, his co-star in the film being shot in Chicago this summer (directed by Ron Howard), co-hosts. Park West, 322 W. Armitage. 9 p.m. $50. Tickets available here.

12. The Backyard Film & Music Festival (July 24) – Local filmmaker Fred Koschmann moves his three-year-old homegrown film fest (complete with live band performances) from his own backyard to a 12-acre site that once housed a railcar factory. Among the highlights on the bill: “A Sip from a Certain Fountain,” a “Twilight Zone”-style short from local filmmakers Christian Gridelli and Hunter Norris. Pullman State Historic Site, 11057 S. Cottage Grove. 12 p.m. $10 in advance, $15 at the door. Tickets available here.

13. In, Flew Ants (July 25) – With a challenging experimental sound, this is bound to be the strangest record release show in Chicago. Schubas, 3159 N. Southport. 7:30 p.m. $10. Tickets available here.

14. Jump Smokers (July 27) – Jump Smokers brings old school, funktastic dance music for its new album “Dance Rock Shake Pop,” celebrated at this show. Lincoln Hall, 2424 N. Lincoln. 9 p.m. $5, free admission if you show up before 10 p.m. Tickets available here.

15. Todd Carey (July 29) – If Carey keeps releasing cheery, frothy pop songs like “After the Morning After,” expect to hear him more on the radio. Lincoln Hall, 2424 N. Lincoln. 8 p.m. $10. Tickets available here.

16. Reds and Blue (July 30) – Dreamy psychedelic band plays in celebration of its album “Son of the Stars.” Schubas, 3159 N. Southport. 10 p.m. $8 in advance, $10 at the door. Tickets available here.

Two episodes of the program are in the can, the first of which premieres this Friday on WTTW after “Check Please,” with the hope that enough people will tune in to justify “Chicago Stand-up” becoming a regular series. Patrick McGann pleaded his case and the show’s concept to Chicago Beat.

Chicago Beat: So how did the idea for this show come about?

Patrick McGann: I’m a stand-up comedian and was always noticing whenever I told people that, they thought it was cool and intriguing. And I started thinking that people have a general interest or curiosity about stand-up. It’s like ballroom or jumping out of an airplane in that people say they want to try that once. So I was thinking it would be cool to see some well-known people doing something out of their element. That’s how it came about.

I pitched it to Bert Haas, the guy who runs Zanies, and he and I talked about it as a web series, and eventually Bert said this would be a TV show. I started to talk to people around town about it and WTTW really liked the concept.

CB: So what challenges did you face putting your first TV show together?

PM: It’s always a challenge to get people to stop what they’re doing. In Shani Davis’ case, he’s an Olympian and speed skater, so his schedule is busy and [Local Fox-TV meteorologist] Amy Freeze is busy, and Susanna Negovan is busy running [Michigan Avenue Magazine], so it was a challenge to line up everyone’s schedule. So once we got the green light, we had in our mind a three-month window and we started to get to the end of the three-month window, and shot two episodes within a week of each other. I would have liked to spread that out a little bit more.

I am lucky. I am the comic that shows up to shoots. As far as getting the right shot, that’s not my responsibility. But I probably take it for granted how smooth things rang [on a TV shoot]. There is a challenge in working a live show for the first time, doing stand-up. You never really want to do a retake on a joke, especially in front of someone who has heard the joke. You wouldn’t get the same reaction the second time. But everyone did their five minutes, the crowd got into it, and no one fell off the track.

I think our producer Eddie Griffin shared the vision I had for the show. He got the concept right away, and I think people will be interested to see somebody they think they know doing something different from what we know they’re doing. Each person talks about themselves and their lives and you end up pulling for these people because they’re putting themselves out there.

CB: Talk about the format of the show.

PM: At the beginning of the show we introduce participants, remind people how they know them, give the background of the person. They talk about what their thoughts. [Former White Sox great] Ron Kittle was not nervous at all, but some of the other participants are nervous. They know its not easy but a challenge. … From there we go into a conversation about what they want to joke about and write about. We see them on stage preparing for their sets, writing their material and getting ready for that big night. They each did 5 minutes, but we edited it a little bit so we don’t have sets front to end. That stuff people can see online, … and people can go to WTTW.com and talk about the show. There’s no judging on the show itself, but we welcome that on the discussion board. A lot of reality TV shows, so much of the time is spent showing judges, so we decided not to have that element. These people are putting themselves out there. They’re not professional comics, there’s a short window of time for preparing. We don’t want to embarrass anybody. People know [from watching] whether they do well or not do well.

CB: On the show, you serve as a stand-up coach. What was that experience like for you, and how did it help your own stand-up act?

PM: Well I have always been a huge fan of stand-up. I’ve watched it, I write about it. Anything that has to do with stand-up I will consume. But I don’t think you can teach somebody how to be funny. My approach was to kind of encourage people what not to do. I just encouraged each person to talk about themselves, to think about things that they love, things that annoy them. I talked to them about being confident in knowing their material. A big part of the battle is being confident. If the audience sees that you’re comfortable, they are going to listen a little bit more.

In an introspective way, as I was telling this to them, I definitely was think about my own act and what I’m trying to focus on now is to talk about my life and not just mundane observations I have and things that are funny, but getting more personal on stage myself.

CB: What are some things not to do when performing stand-up?

PM: Like telling a long story that doesn’t have laugh lines along the way. Sometimes people think, ‘I have a really funny story,’ but it’s a ‘guess you have to be there’ story. You can’t get up and tell the story; it has to be crafted with jokes. And I think this isn’t something run into being on PBS, but one of the things I learned not to do out of the gate for no reason is to be really dirty and really blue. Most people dismiss you as having to do dirty material when you haven’t built a brand for yourself or a reputation. If the crowd knows you, you have a little bit more leeway working blue. But for an unknown starting out, its not always the right way to go.

CB: There are reality shows about comedy, like “Last Comic Standing,” but that one’s a competition, not so much a look at the making of an act. Since the people on your show are learning about stand up, what do you think viewers will learn about it themselves by watching?

PM: Oftentimes comedians can be dismissed as a circus act or some kind of clown, but really what comedians are doing is giving people an escape. And it also reminds people that this is an art form. … It’s not my goal, but I think it will bring a little bit more respect to the art of stand-up.

“The Chicago Stand-Up Project” airs at 8:30 p.m. Friday on WTTW Channel 11. A second episode of the show airs the following Friday, same time, same channel.

Forming when the players were just in high school, Chicago's Cap'n Jazz left its mark as a pioneering emo rock band. The group is playing a pair of sold out reunion shows this weekend after breaking up in 1995. Photo provided.

Cap’n Jazz has been on a journey few bands have taken—from fast rise and fall, to posthumous discovery, to unexpected reunion. With just one original album release in the band’s history, 1994’s “Burritos, Inspiration Point, Fork Balloon Sports, Cards In The Spokes, Automatic Biographies, Kites, Kung Fu, Trophies, Banana Peels We’ve Slipped On and Egg Shells We’ve Tippy Toed Over,” also known as “Shmap’n Shmazz,” the Chicago-area band’s influential emo music went on to be discovered by indie rock audiophiles thanks to Jade Tree Records, which released the album and other recordings as a two-disc anthology in 1998. But it would take another 12 years for the group, which formed when the guys were just in high school, to play together as thirty-somethings. Following a much buzzed-about surprise reunion gig in January in celebration of that anthology being released on vinyl for the first time that month, the band plays a pair of full set homecoming shows at Bottom Lounge this weekend have long been sold out. (The band plays again July 31^st however at Wicker Park Fest).

One of Cap’n Jazz’s guitarists, Victor Villareal, talked to Chicago Beat about the band’s origins, the reason for its split and why its been resurrected now.

Chicago Beat: So how did Cap’n Jazz come to be?

Victor Villareal: I met [lead vocalist] Tim [Kinsella] the summer of ’89 I think. I was skateboarding at this kind of school [in Buffalo Grove] for delinquent kids. They were closed for summer and we would skate at this school. I was there alone and went to skate this set of stairs and Tim came out of nowhere. And I guess he was waiting for some friends we both knew. The girl he was waiting for, I’m not sure if she didn’t show up. So we went back to his house and we were talking the whole way about his hobbies and interests, and guitar came up. I was taking classical guitar lessons at this shop in Wheeling. So when we got to his house I played one of his guitars for him. He was telling me he played guitar too. It was a common interest we shared. He was telling me he played fast music and I thought he was going to be a virtuouso on guitar and I was excited to hear him. So he grabbed [the guitar], but it was a different kind of fast, like Minor Threat fast. So he started thrashing out. So we began to jam; he asked me if I wanted to be in this band he had going at the time called Toe Jam. I didn’t know what they sounded like, but I was excited to be in a band. So I’d get there and every song was really fast and crazy. I was worried I’d show up to practice and I wouldn’t fit in, but it worked out in some strange way. There was no real structure to it. It was a lot of improvising and really fast, hardcore skate music type stuff.

We began to play for a while and started to write actual songs with parts and changes and stuff. We played mainly in Tim’s basement. It was our biggest venue; we’d have shows in his basement, make fliers, pass them out at school. And there was this church not too far from his house and we would open for whoever was playing there. High school variety shows were a big thing for us in the day.  …

[Two guys] dropped out of Toe Jam I think it was sophomore year of high school, ’90 or ’91. … Sam [Zurick] at the time jumped on bass, which seemed pretty normal at the time because he was at every Toe Jam practice; even though he didn’t play anything, he was always watching. He was so intrigued by the band and it was cool to see him start from not being able to play an instrument to see him become what he is today. And Mike [Kinsella] has always been a really talented musician. He would have ideas that were semi-arranged; he’d come to practice with a guitar part and bass part that rang well together and ask us to play those. And he would jump on drums. There were a lot of songs he wrote the foundations to. And we would feed off of that and the rest of it was me coming to practice with parts.

We began to take music more seriously and started to actually develop a sound. We weren’t doing it on purpose, but it just kind of happened, and we started playing more shows. I think [the Chicago band] Gauge had a big role in establishing our sound back then. Tim I remember showed me a 7 inch from this band at the time and said, ‘Man, you have to listen to this,’ and so they played a big influential role in the development of Cap’n Jazz. We would go to their shows all the time. And Cap’n Jazz would practice more than Toe Jam did. We were on fire at the time. We were really excited to have a sound. We would play out more. Once we hooked up with Gauge, we started expanding the places that we would play at and we began to meet more people and hook up with new connections and places to play. They sort of took us under their wing a little bit.

CB: What was the process like in putting your one and only album together?

VV: I think it sort of happened subconsciously. We didn’t go into it saying we were going to put this album together or make an album. We were more constantly progressing as a band, and it seemed we were constantly chasing after the desire to get better and better as a band, and from what I remember there was never a stationary point in the band where we were thinking we’ve got a sound now. The songs started to develop themselves in a way. Mike played a huge role in writing them and writing the foundations, and I would write a lot of bridges. For the most part, Mike had a lot to do with the arranging I would say; he’s got a total knack for that. And the rest of it was all of us contributing and coming to practice and just feeding off of each other, and then I guess setting in stone what sounded cool and then tossing away what didn’t. A lot of it was a full band effort in putting the album together.

I think the album came out in 1994. It first came out on a record label called Man with Gun out of Downers Grove. We recorded it at a studio in Wicker Park in Chicago and I remember thinking, ‘This place is amazing.’ We got the album recorded, they put it out. I think they only pressed so many copies and then a bit of crap happened there. I don’t know exactly what happened. I was not involved in the business portion of Cap’n Jazz. We ended up breaking up, and that was the only album, and I think it was four years after that Jade Tree Records talked to Tim and decided to pick it up. They wanted to re-release the album with all the seven inches included as an anthology [called “Analphabetapolothology”],  and they did an amazing job. Jade Tree, they kind of picked it up and thrusted it out there and made it available to a lot more peep than Man with Gun was ever able to.

CB: You guys have since found a devoted cult following, but at the time when the album was first released, did you become popular?

VV: We were actually not popular at all. We were very small time. I think our biggest show that I can remember was with the Smoking Popes at The Metro back in 1993 or 1992. That was a sold out show because the Smoking Popes were getting big at the time. But yeah, I think the people that I knew, they really enjoyed the album. We had sort of an intimate following. Our shows seemed a lot more personal. It almost felt like we were playing to our family. I was talking to my friend Jim the other day and he used to be one of the people that would go to the shows. He was saying it was such a neat time because you would see all of the same people at the shows, and it was almost like whatever was happening at the time everyone was experiencing it together as a whole. When we would have shows that were really short and the songs were really short and fast, it was this hyper release of energy at the time and it became an outlet for a few people that would go.

CB: So why did you break up?

VV: I had a problem at the time with substance abuse, and I guess at the time we were so young. Part of [my drug use] was experimental, part of it was trying to find another escape to avoid certain personal issues, but my drug use, most of it ended up interfering with the band. To sum it all up, we went on tour, I ended up taking a handful of drugs and I kept it kind of secretive, and it was a good time that got out of control and I ended up having to go to the hospital and they had to go there too. We had to drive home because of it and we ended up breaking up on tour.

At the time I was pretty numbed physically by the substance abuse, but really I felt like shit. I felt like I was the reason for making a lot of people really upset and I was the cause of it, and it’s not a good feeling at all, you know? It took me a long time to realize that there needed to be some serious changes in my life. I definitely did get to that point but I had to hit every branch on the way down. … I didn’t talk to those guys for a good six years or something.

CB: So you broke up when you were a young band and at the time didn’t have too large of a following. So then why did Jade Tree re-release your music and why do you think you guys still have this following today?

VV: Let’s see, Tim’s French Horn playing? (Laughs). I don’t know. Maybe the fact that we were never too serious about it, in the sense that some bands get really anal about what they look like or what they sound like. And maybe the fact that it was easy to relate to because we sucked. (Laughs). We weren’t like a polished band ever, so maybe people were able to relate to the imperfection to it. I don’t know exactly why people liked it, but whatever we were doing we enjoyed doing. It’s not like we were doing it to gain acceptance from anybody.

[As for why we’re still popular,] I don’t even know. That stumps me a little bit. I wish I had an answer for you on that.

CB: So why after all these years is the band back together now?

VV: There was no real reason behind it that I know of at least. As far as I understood it, Sam was the one that maybe mentioned it to Tim, and Tim thought that would be weird and Mike was ok with it and then Sam asked me and I was cool about it. I thought of it as an opportunity for some healing to take place in a way, because I never knew how to bring that issue up again after it happened. I felt horrible about it for years afterwards and I carried a lot of guilt. I just assumed I would have to live the rest of my life without having an opportunity to address it like this. Maybe there might have been another time in another way, but the way this happened it’s like too perfect, and I think it gives everybody a chance to sort of, what’s the word, for some healing to take place in a sense, you know what I’m saying? For the longest time we didn’t talk about the break-up. Nobody really sat down and brought it up; I think it would be awkward if somebody did. Maybe some people didn’t care anymore. I don’t know.  I was just happy this whole thing is taking place the way it did.

CB: What has it been like for you to be back playing in Cap’n Jazz again?

VV: Now it’s a lot of fun, and I think I’m experiencing what I probably should have experienced in 1992, cause I’m clearheaded today and I don’t have anything obstructing my view. It’s just really cool man. It’s nice to be able to be alive for it and to be coherent for it and now I almost think like, “Damn, now I feel like kicking myself. Why did it have to happen the way it happened, because I could have experienced this 15 years ago?” But I guess we live and learn, and it all happened for a good reason.

CB: And after you guys are done playing your summer shows, what happens to Cap’n Jazz? Do you think you’ll record another album?

VV: I don’t think we’re looking that far ahead yet. We are sort of enjoying what we have in front of us right now. I think its mainly focusing on the shows that we have right now. That seems to be the M.O. When I play with those dudes its cool because it just seems for some of them, and I don’t like to make generalizations, but there seems to be a feeling like whatever happens happens. Some things are planned of course but there’s a beauty in dealing with whatever comes up. Que sera sera.

Cap’n Jazz plays a pair of sold out shows with Gauge Saturday and Sunday at 9 p.m. at Bottom Lounge, 1375 W. Lake. The band plays again at Wicker Park Fest, on Milwaukee Avenue between North Avenue and Wood Street, on July 31st, headlining the North Stage at about 8:30 or 9. $5 donation at the gates.

Bee (Kate Arrington, on left) may have been told her future by her older self (Marylouise Burke), or she may be crazy, in Bruce Norris' intriguing new play "A Parallelogram." The play is currently in its world premiere run at Steppenwolf. Photo by Michael Brosilow. (M

If you knew what would happen in the future, and if you couldn’t do anything to change it, would you still want to go on with your life? That’s the first question, one of several profound ones, asked in Bruce Norris’ strong new play “A Parallelogram,” making its world premiere at Steppenwolf under the direction of Anna D. Shapiro (“August: Osage County”). It’s a domestic drama charged with sci-fi elements, as if Don and Betty Draper had stumbled into the world of “Lost.” In Norris’ hands, these elements, aside from occasional wordy stretches, go well together. The play stays interesting, and Norris’ characters are involving, throughout. He’s not so in love with the logic behind the sci-fi stuff that he loses his grasp of the human heart pumping his play with life.

The person asking that question, about whether a life whose path you know and can’t change is worth living, is Bee (Kate Arrington), the regional manager of a drug store. She asks it of her older boyfriend Jay (Tim Irwin), a payroll account executive who left his wife and kids for her. But the question is too complex for Jay, and too much of a distraction from the game he’s watching, the Heineken he’s sipping, the Latino lawn care guy he’s squabbling with (Tim Bickel), and the drama he’s dealing with on the phone with his daughter, for him to really give it much mind. Jay’s frankly too shortsighted and self-involved to think as Bee thinks, but he’s not a caricature. As written by Norris, Jay shows signs of sensitivity, and love, and in Irwin’s portrayal, authenticity and humanity.

Bee, on the other hand, is suddenly self-aware, not only of her present lot in life, but where her life will go from here. She knows so much, and now she doesn’t know what to do. In the bedroom where she faces this existential crisis sits an older version of herself (a wry Marylouise Burke), whom only she can see. The older Bee, armed with a remote control, has come back in time to tell her how her life, and the world at large, will play out. The younger Bee, we learn, is one of a handful of survivors of a horrific virus 25 years in the future. Bee learns what becomes of her relationship with Jay, how his ex-wife dies, how his relationships with his kids falls into ruin. And Bee sees what she will become—overweight, selfish, practically heartless. She hates what she sees, but she’s told, rather coolly by her future self, that what happens happens, and she can do nothing to change it.

This is an incredible burden for Bee to deal with, but Norris presents another difficult scenario: this could all be a delusion. Tumors were found in Bee’s uterus, and while removed, there is a possibility that the disease could have spread to her brain. That, coupled with a mid-life crisis, triggered not only by the disease, but her infertility, an eye-opening look of poverty while on vacation and the death of a pet parrot she’s had all her life, may have pushed her over the edge. That’s what Jay thinks at least, and Dr. Fein (Marylouise Burke) potentially suspects. But is Dr. Fein really a doctor, or is she who Bee thinks she is, the older version of herself pretending to be a doctor? And ultimately, what scenario is better for Bee: that she knows and can’t fight the future, or that she is actually losing her mind? Which scenario is better for the audience for that matter? If you are to believe that Bee actually knows the future, then you must accept that you cannot change fate. If she is crazy, and fate isn’t predetermined, then there is a chance for you to take control and make a positive impact with your life. For my own sanity and sense of self-worth, I’d like to thank Bee’s crazy and I have some control, but based on Norris’ ending, I’m not so sure he would agree with me.

So yes, heady stuff this, and certainly not escapist entertainment.  But it is still illuminating entertainment, and given Arrington and Irwin’s performances of this complicated characters, quite moving. No matter their future, Norris, Shapiro and the cast are working at the peak of their powers in the present.

Grade: A-

“A Parallelogram” is performed through August 29th at Steppenwolf Theatre Company, 1650 N. Halsted. $20-70. Tickets and schedule available here.

1. “Cherrywood” (Through August 8): No doubt Robert Altman would have loved this play by Kirk Lynn about some twenty-somethings gathered for a party: the cast includes 49 players. Directed by acclaimed local auteur David Cromer. Mary-Arrchie Theatre Company, 735 W. Sheridan. $18-22. Schedule and tickets here.

2. “Nothin’ But The Blues” (Through August 29): I quite enjoyed Black Ensemble Theater’s last production “My Brother’s Keeper” about the real life tap-dancing greats the Nicholas Brothers. I have high hopes for this Southern roots-inspired musical revue. Black Ensemble Theater, 4520 N. Beacon. $45. Schedule and tickets available here.

3. Orchestre Septentrional d’Haiti (July 1): The free concert series Music Without Borders pays tribute to Haitian music at the start of the month courtesy of this big band that calls the struggling country home. Pritzker Pavilion at Millennium Park (near the intersection of Michigan and Randolph). 7:30 p.m. Free.

4. “Suicide, Incorporated” (Through July 25): Chris Jones at the Trib gave this world premiere play, featuring “Private Practice” star Michael Patrick Thornton, four stars, calling it “wise, rich and deeply moving.” The Gift Theatre, 4802 N. Milwaukee. $25-30. Schedule and tickets here.

5. The Loneliest Monk (July 2): Chicago male-female art rock duo (she sings and plays cello and keyboards, he sings and plays drums and tiny pianos) arrives on the scene with a debut self-titled album and a live show that incorporates costumes and masks. Audience members are encouraged to bring masquerade-appropriate attire. Lincoln Hall, 2424 N. Lincoln. 9 p.m. $10. Tickets available here.

6. The Dyes (July 3): Chicago’s female-fronted retro rockabilly group plays in support of its new album. Beat Kitchen, 2100 W. Belmont. 9 p.m. $8 in advance, $10 at the door. Tickets available here.

7. Tarantino and Co. (July 3-August 26): The iconic, one of a kind auteur gets his own special retrospective. Not only will Tarantino flicks like “Pulp Fiction” and “Inglorious Basterds” return to the big screen, but films that inspired Tarantino (such as Sam Peckinpah’s “The Wild Bunch” and, strangely enough, “Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein”) will be shown. Gene Siskel Film Center, 164 N. State. $10 general admission ticket per show; $17 for two films on Saturdays. Schedule and tickets can be accessed here.

8. Passion Pit at Taste of Chicago (July 4): This year, like most years, features a ho-hum mainstage music line-up at the Taste. But this year, like practically all years, has one exception in the XRT-sponsored 4^th of July show. Four acts fill the bill this year: promising Hendrix-meets-Beatles band Carney, acclaimed Americana singer/guitarist Alejandro Escovedo, swinging soul jammers Robert Randolph and the Family Band, and most exciting of all, electropop dance group Passion Pit. Petrillo Music Shell at Grant Park (near the intersection of Columbus and Jackson). 12 p.m. Free.

9. Filligar (July 7): This is definitely one of the strongest pop rock acts in the city, with hooks that are hard to wiggle free from. The group, consisting of three brothers and their childhood friend, celebrate its latest album “The Nerve” at this record release. Lincoln Hall, 2424 N. Lincoln. 7 p.m. $10. Tickets available here.

10. “Hard Headed Heart” (July 8-August 8): Redmoon Theater co-founder Blair Thomas resurrects his one-man puppet show consisting of three one-act performances. Victory Gardens Theater, 2433 N. Lincoln. $25. Tickets available here.

11. A Friend Called Fire (July 9): Chicago alt rock group already has a commercial sound, despite just one album to its name. Lincoln Hall, 2424 N. Lincoln. 8 p.m. $8 in advance, $10 at the door. Tickets available here.

12. Mahjongg (July 9): It’s only appropriate this Chicago band takes its name from a Chinese game, given its playful, underground electronica sound. Subterranean, 2011 W. North. 10 p.m. $10. Tickets available here.

13. Chicago Folk & Roots Festival (July 10-11): The exceptional Old Town School of Folk Music programs this two-day event, culminating with a rare U.S. performance from Etran Finatawa, a Niger-based blues band. Welles Park (near the intersection of Lincoln and Montrose). 12-9:30 p.m. each day. $5-10.

14. The Scotland Yard Gospel Choir (July 10): It’s incredible that Chicago’s beloved chamber pop group even got to play again following a devastating crash last fall. Now after last month’s show, the band’s first in 10 months, it’s already back with its second, and this time it’s free, so really no excuse. For more on the band’s recovery, check out my Chicago Beat interview with frontman Elia Einhorn. Millennium Park by “The Bean”, (near the intersection of Michigan and Randolph). 9 p.m. Free.

15. Rachel Barton Pine (July 11): Your date loves classical music, you love doom metal. What to do? Finally, here’s a show for you. Illinois violinist Pine performs Tchaikovsky and, yes metal, on her violin (in the company of her band Earthen Grave for the latter). Pritzker Pavilion at Millennium Park (near the intersection of Michigan and Randolph). 7 p.m. Free.

Oscar, an immigrant from Honduras living in Chicago, collects metal and sells it to recyclers to support his family in "Scrappers." The documentary has its world premiere June 27th at the Chicago Underground Film Festival. Photo provided.

“Scrappers,” a new documentary chronicling two Chicago guys trying to scrape by by collecting metal to be recycled, isn’t trash, nor is it treasure. Albeit far too long, directors Brian Ashby, Ben Kolak and Courtney Prokopas unearth fascinating insights and sometimes painful realities hidden amidst the rubble, particularly near the film’s end, when the scrappers’ already fragile way of life is crushed as the great recession lowers the price of a ton of recycled metal from $250 to a measly $60. “Scrappers” is one of the star features at this year’s Chicago Underground Film Festival, taking place at the Gene Siskel Film Center until July 1st.Scrapping is the livelihood of Otis and Oscar, the two primary subjects, but it’s not their lives, not entirely. And the directors humanize these men by showing them with family and friends, by exploring the reasons that they do what they do. We see that Otis lives in a cramped apartment in a senior community building in Chicago with his wife Loretta and her son Adrian. The conditions are horrifying – at one point, the family has to leave due to a bed bug infestation, and Otis slips on a pool of rainwater inside the building, nearly dying in the process. Oscar, meanwhile, is an immigrant from Honduras who can’t land a job. Like Otis, he spends his days driving through alleyways all over Chicago collecting metal to bring to recycling facilities for cash. With the little they get, they support their families (in Otis’ case, two families, one in Chicago and another in Honduras).

This is before the economic collapse of 2008, when the market plummets, as does cash that can come from scrapping. We see Oscar braving snow-ridden roads filling his truck with trashed metal. After a week’s work, all he gets is $32. The situation is dire enough that Otis regrets living in America, where his expenses are much larger than his earnings. Otis, meanwhile, unable to make any cash from scrapping, resorts to trying to sell his personal belongings.

Filmed in an intimate, verite style, the directors are to be commended for gaining so much trust from their subjects and exploring not just scrapping, but also the socioeconomic hardships that these men endure.  But “Scrappers” would have been a much better short film. There are long stretches involving Otis’ neighbor, homeless men who have befriended Oscar and other subjects and scenarios that do little to enhance the story.  If editor Aaron Wickenden had tossed the right 30 minutes in the trash, “Scrappers” could have been an excellent short documentary. In its current form, it’s still an eye-opening one.

Grade: B

“Scrappers” has its world premiere at the Gene Siskel Film Center, 164 N. State St., at 4:45 p.m. on June 27th. Directors Brian Ashby, Ben Kolak and Courtney Prokopas will be in attendance to answer questions. The film is being shown as part of the Chicago Underground Film Festival, ending July 1st. An encore presentation takes place at 8 p.m. July 1st. Tickets for both showings cost $10 and are available here.

The first question you might ask watching “Audrey The Trainwreck,” the sixth film from local Mumblecore devotee Frank V. Ross, is who is Audrey and why is she a trainwreck? There isn’t a single character in the film named Audrey, much less a trainwreck, literally or figuratively. Other questions may come up too, like “Why?” and “What’s the point?” Those may only be natural, and understandable, given the scenes that casually come and go revolving around random dates, office life, a game of volleyball and conversations in bars. Then there’s an abrupt, startling ending that leaves everything dangling in the air.

That may be enough you need to know to skip “Audrey,” but if you’re a cinema buff who likes to be challenged, who beams whenever a film explores real people, when it authentically, delicately showcases little slices of life, then “Audrey The Trainwreck” is one you should catch.

The film centers around Ron (Anthony Baker), a disgruntled 20-something working a job he won’t admit he despises. Ron’s a pretty selfish guy, and oblivious to his behavior. In one well-done scene, he expresses remorse for his broken George Foreman grill even though his troubled friend Scott (Danny Rhodes) calls him in the middle of the night, sounding troubled. In another he complains that higher education is pointless to Stacey (Alexi Wasser), a girl he’s begun to date, even though she cares about getting a degree. When a friend’s friend he meets in a bar (Nick Offerman, from ‘Parks and Recreation’) starts talking down about Ron’s job, Ron finally goes ballistic. Of course, he’s just gotten a taste of his own medicine, and now, he can take baby steps to making a better life for himself, and treating people better in turn.

Ron can be pretty unlikable, but he’s played with such authenticity and humanity by Baker that it’s hard not to identify with him on some level. Wasser, Rhodes and the rest of the ensemble match him note for note. It’s all appropriately, intimately shot by David Lowery, and overall well directed by Ross, who has a keen eye for personal behavior and for showing it to his audience in a way that’s revealing without being too blatant or contrived. Scenes like an awkward bridal shower or an intimate late night conversation speak volumes without explicitly saying much at all.

“Audrey” reflects Robert Altman and John Cassavettes films in the way it stages simple, realistic scenes that show pieces of a picture, that allude to deeper truths, without explicitly stating any character’s intention or simplifying their personalities. People often go to movies for escape, for an easy-to-follow story featuring easy-to-peg characters that come to a satisfying, happy resolution. “Audrey” isn’t the movie for those people. But by showing slices of real, identifiable life, it makes you think about your own. And that too is a gift that can come from a good movie.

Grade: B

“Audrey The Trainwreck” is being shown at 8 p.m. June 19th and 23rd and 6 p.m. June 21st at The Gene Siskel Film Center, 164 N. State St. Ross will be present at all screenings. Tickets are $10 and available here.