These four Japanese women seem to delight in finding the most counterintuitive musical combinations possible. Their recent Taiga (Thrill Jockey) sounds like it was put together by somebody pulling slips of paper out of a hat: first she drew “analog synths,” then “traditional Japanese drumming,” followed by “steel pan solo,” “loopy fretless bass,” and “disco.” (I’m pretty sure one of those slips said “everybody start yelling,” too.) But no matter how outre the genre miscegenation that produces it, OOIOO’s music is consistently, stunningly pleasurable....

Just when we doubted HIS goodness, Madeline, three days after her murder, posted on Facebook. “I AM in a better place.” I had questions. I’m her older brother, I’m supposed to have questions. Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites » We assaulted his Facebook page in response to her accusation, demanding that he turn himself in. “I WILL NOT TURN MYSELF IN,” he posted on his wall, defiant, just hours later....

Mike Sula Les oeufs de kuchela That mysterious substance to the left is a plate of scrambled eggs fortified with Matouk’s-brand kuchela, a Trinidadian chutney with its roots in the more straightforward mango chutneys of India. It ain’t pretty, but it is sour, spicy, and a little bit sweet, and has quickly rivaled Yuzu-it for condiment dominance in my household. Kuchela is far more complex and less assertive than the sort of mango pickle you might pick up at the chutney bar at Patel’s....

Dating co-workers. Some business admin classes actually address this as one of the worst things you can do but what do they know, right? It’s pretty common no matter what corporate policy states. You are with these people day in and day out so over time you develop a relationship on some scale. Taking it to a dating level is a huge gamble although it may not seem that way at first....

AP Photos Former Chicago mayor Jane Byrne passed away on Friday at age 80. Jane Byrne ran for mayor in 1979 against the “cabal” that controlled Chicago. She won, and maybe she’d have taken on that cabal—if she’d had an actual movement behind her, with its own bloc of aldermen and sharp wheeler-dealers whose biggest beef against City Hall was that it had frozen them out of the action. The Byrne insurgency was cosmetic; the Washington insurgency four years later drilled into bone....

The Chef: Charles Joly (The Drawing Room)The Challenger: Craig Schoettler (The Aviary)The Ingredient: Ambergris Video by Michael Gebert/Sky Full of Bacon Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites » When fresh, ambergris has the fecal scent that Joly refers to—but after months or years of floating in the ocean, exposed to the sun, it hardens and develops a smell that’s usually described as sweet and earthy. It’s traditionally used in perfume, and at various points in history has been believed to ward off the plague and cure almost any ailment imaginable....

Candidates Debate Thanks for equal time. —Honorable Sharon Eckersall, Evanston Township Assessor Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites » Re: Our Oppressive Optimism: Who’s to blame for the very American phenomenon of “bright-siding”? by Noah Berlatsky, October 15 This is the worst fucking piece of shit essay I have ever read. Are you really reviewing this book by recasting blame for American excessive optimism? Hey Noah, you can stick your agenda ALL THE WAY UP YOUR ASS!...

Q I’m a happily married woman. I have a great sex life with my husband of many years. The problem: Three years ago, my first love contacted me after 23 years. He was married at the time, although he didn’t want to be, and told me that he never stopped loving me. We have been having sexy e-chats ever since. My loving, GGG husband says that I can help my old flame out if I wish....

Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites » The Shore, an Irish nominee that I reviewed yesterday, dealt with two friends who hadn’t seen each other in 25 years; Hallvar Witzø’s Tuba Atlantic, its Norwegian competitor, is about a dying man who hasn’t spoken to his brother in 30, so I think we all know which is going to take home the statue. Actually these two are about evenly matched as my favorite entries, each following a small number of lively characters through a simple story arc in about 25 minutes....

From See You Next Tuesday Yesterday afternoon I was riding a crowded bus, and some of “those people” were sitting a few rows behind me. They were two men of about 40, openly drinking cans of beer and talking so loudly that everyone on the bus could hear their conversation. When I got on they were sharing dirty jokes, but soon they started speculating in earnest about the nature of incest and who would be compelled to do such a thing....

Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites » Archaeologist-historian Robert Mazrim has uncovered physical evidence of old French Peoria and the Edwards Trace, a precursor of I-55 that goes back to at least 1700. I covered both in the Reader (May 31, 2002, and June 6, 2003), but he’s his own best scribe, as you can see in his new book The Sangamo Frontier: History & Archaeology in the Shadow of Lincoln....

Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites » In the Reader‘s latest installment of In Rotation, Rabbit Factory Records honcho and East of Edens Soul Express DJ John Ciba chose as one of his three obsessions Swingin’ Snowflakes Jingle Jangle Jazz Party 2011 Christmas Mix, the latest in a series of collections of obscure holiday music assembled for friends by Jam’s Andy Cirzan. I second Ciba’s recommendation—Cirzan’s mixes, with their collisions of weirdness and sincerity, are always a blast, and he’s a passionate music fan with wide ears who covers plenty of stylistic turf (though this year’s effort is all jazz)....

Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites » I discovered this in the 80s, when I wrote two stories for the downstate weekly Illinois Times about Julian Simon, a marketing prof then at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, who pointed out a number of fallacies in green orthodoxy, including the notion that we’re running out of raw materials. Since he’d published an article in Science magazine (June 27, 1980) and later a book, The Ultimate Resource, I figured environmentalists would take his valid criticisms to heart and pay more attention to economic ways of thinking....

The title of this new play by Kenneth Paul Drews and Dan Filowitz comes from a poem by famously dyspeptic English poet Philip Larkin. So it’s surprising that the play itself is such a sweet, unassuming affair. It’s also far too long for its strengths to shine–Drews’s staging for Disciples of Clyde Productions often feels like a long-form improv inspired by Deborah Tannen’s books on miscommunication between the sexes. There are touching moments between low-key attorney Ben (a winning Eric Rampson) and his smart but insecure girlfriend (a beguiling Britney Barber)....

Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites » The Pitchfork Music Festival isn’t the only game in town this weekend: a radically revamped JVC Jazz Festival runs Friday through Sunday at various venues around Chicago. In the past this local satellite of the onetime Newport Jazz Festival presented a handful of forgettable smooth-jazz shows, but this year the music is vastly improved–though it looks suspiciously like the presenters merely attached their name to an assortment of gigs that were already booked....

Thursday, August 30 Randolph Cafe, Chicago Cultural Center Chris Madsen Bix Quartet Noon Last year saxophonist Chris Madsen, a music professor at Northwestern, released a trio album of music associated with legendary 1920s jazz trumpeter Bix Beiderbecke. Plays Bix Beiderbecke (JeruJazz) is a lovely and loving tribute, and it stands out among similar efforts in part because there’s not a note of trumpet on it—Madsen, who plays tenor, is joined only by bassist Joe Policastro and guitarist Dan Effland....

How great is the cover of this week’s Reader? I think we should sell T-shirts of it. I would wear mine all the time. Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites » Of course, once you open the paper, the quality just keeps coming. In music we’ve got the story of classical group Eighth Blackbird and its trial-and-error approach to crowdsourcing compositions, a profile of bluegrass banjoist Greg Cahill, who’s spent 35 years as leader of the Special Consensus, another profile on dance-music eccentrics Mahjongg, Gossip Wolf news about the upcoming Syl Johnson box set and Pit Er Pat drummer Butchie Fuego’s new gig with M....

Reginald Rose’s 1954 TV drama, depicting the verbal battles of a dozen jurors deciding a murder case, offered a McCarthy-era civics lesson on the power of dissent against mean-spirited groupthink. This touring edition of the Roundabout Theatre Company’s 2004 Broadway revival is an unabashed period piece: its all-white, all-male, cigarette-puffing cast vent racial, social, and political prejudices against “bleeding hearts,” “intellectuals,” and “them.” But the message that an individual of conscience can change the mind of a mob is timeless....

Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites » Yesterday, the Sun-Times ran an outstanding piece about our mayor’s 62 out-of-town trips over the course of 47 months. They requested documentation, and were told by City Hall (emphasis mine): “In response to a Freedom of Information Act request, the city Law Department simply supplied a list of the trips and who paid for them. City Hall has said it does not maintain records of trips not funded by the city and that it would take too long to compile bills from taxpayer-funded trips....

Now in its second year, Steppenwolf Theatre Company’s Next Up repertory showcases productions staged by a few newly graduated directors and designers from Northwestern University’s MFA program. You may think of it as a cool-kids-only recital. Or a coming-out gala for theater-world debs. And you may say to yourself, Fine for them. They get to be mentored by high-functioning pros at an important American theater—and, maybe more useful in the short run, pick up a Steppenwolf credit for their resumes....