Interviews
Interview with Jessica Kirson
By Tamale Sepp Jessica Kirson is coming to Chicago and you NEED to see her. She’s been on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Comedy Central, Last Comic Standing, Last Call With Carson Daley, VH1, Premium Blend, and Nickelodeon just to name a few. She’s loud, expressive, and animated in a way that draws you […]
Cameron Esposito is not in Illinois Anymore
When Cameron Esposito was a little girl, she wanted to be president. Or a cartoonist. Or a priest. Mostly a priest. Instead, she became a stand-up comic (I’ll come back to this later). I vaguely remember hearing that one of our favorite home town comedians was leaving to try and make it in LaLa Land, […]
Meet Marcie Bianco: Queer Public(s) Intellectual, PhD
By Mallorie DeRiggi An “understudy” of Kate Bornstein, lesbian columnist and professor, Marcie Bianco has received widespread recognition for her work as she continues to be a fearless advocate of queer rights and the modern feminist movement. Marcie Bianco is currently a columnist for AfterEllen.com and Lambda Literary and is an adjunct professor at both […]
City Winery Chicago Presents Cathy Richardson with Special Guest Sami Grisafe
This city of ours has a lot to offer, but the upcoming duo of Cathy Richardson and Sami Grisafe performing back-to-back may take the proverbial cake. Closing out the season of summer sun and ushering in the cooling autumn, these top female rockers will give you goosebumps right down to your bones. Eerie and powerful, […]
Community Spotlight: A Conversation with Sam Kirk
“When people ask me, ‘What do you do for a living?’, I just say I’m an artist,” says Sam Kirk, because explaining all the things that she is and does would take awhile… A Chicago-native, Kirk is a visual artist who works in a number of different mediums and fields, including fine art (painting and […]
A Conversation With YouTube Sensation Arielle Scarcella
By Mallorie DeRiggi YouTube sensation Arielle Scarcella is gaining new followers by the day and she is taking full advantage of the new found spotlight she has gained to make a real difference for our community and to make you laugh along the way. ____________________________________________________________________________ Arielle Scarcella is your average woman living and working in […]
Community Spotlight: Torie McMillan
Torie McMillan is one of those photographers that quietly moves around the room, wisely framing her photos before snapping just at the right time. Without making a scene, moving people around to perfection or otherwise complicating the process of capturing memories, McMillan utilizes her talent and has always presented stunning results. Being behind the camera […]
Hannah Thomas is A Little Bit Country, A Little Bit Rock and Roll
I was tempted to call Hannah Thomas an emerging singer/songwriter, and then I heard her sing. Even though she’s floating around the country to small pubs with a single roadie, this girl knows who she is and nearly blew the roof off the Elbo Room last Monday night. A time snafu and a hot steamy […]
The Spanish Version of the Documentary Fish Out of Water Will Soon be Released
Filmmaker KY Dickens has been featured on The L Stop as one of our Top 10 Lesbians to Look Out for in 2013, so you may be familiar with her 2009 documentary A Fish Out of Water. The movie won several awards for it’s juxtaposition of the LGBTQ community against those who condemn homosexuality with […]
The Art of Sideshow: An Interview with Cirque de la Femme
If you attended The L Stop’s Casino Night at Center on Halsted, you might have gotten a taste of Cirque de la Femme – burlesque, contortion, fire, sparks, and sweet, sweet pain. In the spacious back room of Progress Bar, below a cloud ceiling made of voice- and motion-activated light bulbs, I sat down with […]