Friday 23
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Virginia-born Paul Hoover happened to come to Chicago in 1968 during the week of the Democratic convention. He’d begun protesting long before our streets were on fire, and when he bowed out of the Vietnam war as a conscientious objector, he was sent here to work in a lowly hospital post. Since then he has married writer Maxine Chernoff and had three kids, earned a degree from the writers program at the University of Illinois, published five poetry books, and joined the faculty of Columbia College. Now Hoover has penned Saigon, Illinois, a first novel that closely parallels his early Chicago experiences. He’ll be reading from the book tonight at 7 at Barbaras’s Bookstore, 1434 N. Wells, then partying with friends and fans. It’s all free. For more information, call 642-5044.
Saturday 24
Midawo Gideon Foli Alorwoyie, who served as chief master drummer for the National Dance Company of Ghana for 20 years, now teaches at Chicago’s American Conservatory of Music. The internationally recognized Alorwoyie and the African-American Unity Ensemble rock the house tonight with a virtuoso percussion performance at Southend Musicworks, 224 N. Desplaines. Show time is 7, and admission is $5. For more information, call 283-0531.
Aurelia Pucinski may have a natural constituency among the young professionals of the 44th Ward, but Ed Vrdolyak did beat Harold Washington there in the 1987 mayoral contest. Fireworks are guaranteed when the two candidates for clerk of the circuit court face off in a debate at the Belmont Hotel, 3170 N. Sheridan–in the heart of the ward. Show time is 11:30 AM, and tickets are $10. Call 880-5200 for reservations and information.
Unlike theater and dance, performance art has warmly welcomed women artists at all levels. Six of the finest local women performance artists–Sheree Blakemore, Lynn Book, Nancy Forest Brown, Sharon Evans, Lin Hixson, and Susan Wexler–get together to discuss styles and strategies in a panel sponsored by N.A.M.E. Gallery: Six Women on Performance: A Panel Discussion. It starts at 7:30 at 700 N. Carpenter. It’s $2, free to members. Call 2260671 for more.
