Friday 17
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The sovereign nation of Freedonia–actually a neighborhood bar that’s seceded from the U.S.–has its strong points. A national saying (“Look! Freedonia!”), for one thing. A very high pretzel consumption per capita, for another. And Joe’s Handy Guide to Revolution Made E-Z, a new production at the Playwrights’ Center written by Louis Anders and Brendan Baber and directed by James Pelton, fills out the story. It plays tonight and tomorrow at 10:30 at the center, 1222 W. Wilson, and continues (with 9:30 PM shows) for the next three weekends. Admission is $7. Call 334-9981 for more.
Saturday 18
If the average urban bike race seems a little too safe, try the Windy City Sports Festival’s Urban Bike Experience, a duathlon comprising a 5K run followed by a 10K mountain-bike ride through what organizers promise will be some of the city’s toughest potholed roads. The duathlon is just one of a daylong series of events sponsored by Windy City Sports Magazine, including a 5K fitness walk, a swimming trial, a full day of three-on-three volleyball games, in-line skating–even a chance to try rock climbing on an artificial wall. Both adults and kids can participate, though child care is available. It’s all at Union Park, Ogden and Randolph, beginning at 8. Admission fees range from $2 to $28. Call 421-6827 for more.
The golden age of Mexican mural painting in the 1930s and 40s, which brought to light the work of artists such as Diego Rivera, often overshadowed the work of La Ruptura, a group of artists who favored abstractionism over the nationalism and social realism favored by the Mexican government. La Ruptura’s members included painters like Jose Luis Cuevas, Francisco Toledo, and Roger Von Gunten; their paintings and the work of 21 other members will be featured in Four Decades After the Muralists, an exhibit that runs through September 13 at the Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum, 1852 W. 19th St. Hours are Tuesday through Sunday 10 to 5. It’s free. Call 738-1503.
Of Walter Mosley’s new Easy Rawlins mystery, White Butterfly, Publishers Weekly wrote: “The vividly evoked smoky, neon-lit atmosphere and Easy’s palpable anguish over his role in the case and his place in his world yield an arresting urban vision, territory Mosley claims with more authority each time out.” In this third novel of the series (after Devil in a Blue Dress and A Red Death) Rawlins tracks a serial killer through the mean streets of Watts in the 1950s. Mosley will read from the book at Barbara’s Bookstore, 3130 N. Broadway, tonight at 7:30. Call 477-0411 for more.
