Friday 4
For the African-American Leadership Forum’s Gubernatorial Candidates Night, Roland Burris, James Gierach, Dawn Clark Netsch, and Cook County Board prez Richard Phelan have agreed to appear and be grilled–and Governor Jim Edgar hasn’t. Unless he changes his mind, forum president James Exum comments pointedly, the guv risks being viewed as “insensitive to the needs of the community.” The free forum starts at 5 PM at the auditorium of the Kenwood Academy, 5015 S. Blackstone. There’s a reception that starts at 3. Call 784-7357 for more.
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If you’re into drag just for fun–not for a living–Berlin’s annual amateur drag contest should be right up your alley. The judging for Drag Race ’94 starts at midnight. Gina Taye hosts, and there’s a $75 first prize. Berlin’s at 954 W. Belmont. There’s no cover charge. Call 348-4975 for more.
Spike Lee and Gene Siskel go mano a mano in the second-floor theater of the Chicago Cultural Center today as the kickoff to the city’s observance of Black History Month. Admission is free, but seating will be first come first serve, so get there early. Siskel starts interviewing Lee at 3; a reception at the center’s Preston Bradley Hall follows, at about 4:30. The Cultural Center is at 78 E. Washington. Call 744-6630 for more.
Over 25 years as a career foreign-service officer, Robert E. White has served as everything from Latin American director of the Peace Corps to ambassador to El Salvador, and he’s had a close-up view of the U.S.’s generally toxic effect on the vulnerable nations of Latin America. He’ll talk about that at a free lecture at Loyola University tonight in the auditorium of the Edward Crown Center for the Humanities, 6525 N. Sheridan. It starts at 7. Call 508-8658 for more.
