Friday 28
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Randolph Street Gallery’s Festival Cinema Borealis offers a rare opportunity to see wide-screen features as their creators intended–on an 70-foot screen. The three-day fest will be held in Lincoln Park on the lawn between Stockton Drive and North Pond, just north of Fullerton. Tonight’s free featured film is Akira Kurosawa’s Ran, tomorrow’s is Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, and Sunday’s is Terrence Malick’s Days of Heaven. Show time is sunset between 8:30 and 9. Bring a blanket or lawn chair. For more information call 666-7737.
Things got pretty hot for Alderman Roman Pucinski after property in his northwest-side ward was reassessed–and the tax bills for some residents doubled or even tripled. In response to nonstop angry calls and a line of protesters that ran down the block from his Milwaukee Avenue office, Pucinski put a red-white-and-blue sign in his window reminding constituents of his “no” vote on last year’s tax increase. More practical tax information is available from the Northwest Real Estate Board, which is sponsoring a Lower Taxes Workshop. Cosponsored by Taxpayers United for Fairness, the Civic Federation, and the Chicagoland Association of Real Estate Boards, the free seminar will offer taxpayers an explanation for the steep rise in taxes on the north and northwest sides, as well as information on their rights and how to exercise them. It begins at 9 AM at the Old Town Triangle Association, 1763 N. North Park. For more call 637-8200.
For the six members of the Cambodian Folk Music Ensemble, music is a link to their heritage. Most of them learned to play the traditional way, from their fathers or grandfathers; the others found music after they escaped to the Thai refugee camps. Currently living in Chicago, the musicians, two of whom are father and son, play traditional instruments such as the khim (a 14-string dulcimer), the tro-ou (a two-stringed alto fiddle), and the skor (a wooden drum with a snakeskin head). The group performs at 8:30 tonight at Club Lower Links, 954 W. Newport. Admission is $4. For more call 248-5238.
A recent Now York Times story about Oprah Winfrey implied that she was more open and warm when she was overweight; now that she’s slimmed down, she doesn’t seem to have the same need to reach out. But this bit of negative publicity about their biggest celebrity dieter hasn’t fazed the Optifast people, who have taken up headquarters at the downtown Presidential Towers, 614 W Monroe. In cooperation with Mercy Medical Center, they’re offering a free orientation session to their weight-loss program at 6 PM. There’s free parking, too. Call 902-4000 to register.
