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.

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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.

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Amongst all the faboo festivals taking place here in the heart of summer are several record release shows, some free concerts and a Quentin Tarantino festival. My pick for the 15 best events through July 15:

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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. continue »

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.

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