Greetings from Media Burn's new HQ at 348 N. Ashland!!

Happy Opening Day from Studs Terkel!!

Media Burn Board member Prof. Antoine Haywood reflects on the impact of Michael Zinzun and the rich, varied, and woefully under appreciated history of Black creators of Public Access Television. https://mediaburn.org/celebrating-the-black-history-of-public-access-tv/

Be part of our team! Media Burn is hiring our first ever development staff person. Read on if you'd like to work with our growing nonprofit and this is your skill set! https://loom.ly/MDof9X0

Join us at the Music Box on Feb 1 for "In Another Light: Cinema of Memory." It is in partnership with @allarvickfund.bsky.social and @chicagofilmarchives.org and curated by Agata Zborowska. Tickets: https://loom.ly/IS5DsLQ

We are so excited to be the newest member of the Black Metropolis Research Consortium! This group of 29 Chicago-based archives, libraries, and museums connects all who seek to document, share, understand and preserve Black experiences. Read more at: https://loom.ly/2WYYySA

Dec 18, 7pm CT, online! In honor of the 50th anniversary of the Cook County Hospital doctors strike, join Media Burn and Kartemquin Films for a virtual screening of the doc HSA Strike ’75 + a discussion with filmmaker Judy Hoffman and doctor/activist Howard Ehrman. Tickets: https://loom.ly/-i_CypU

John Lewis from the doc "Mississippi America" True change needs everyday courage, not just heroic moments. Freedom Summer’s legacy shows us this: a lifelong fight in streets, courts, and memory against injustice, a blueprint for today’s struggles. More: https://loom.ly/MDLnUp4

SOLD OUT! "Siskel & Ebert at 50" Live Show! Nov 22 Chicago Cultural Center A live event by Pocket Guide to Hell exploring the iconic TV show that changed film criticism. Post-show moderated by Geoffrey Baer w/ Thea Flaum, Michelle McKenzie-Voigt, and Rick Kogan. Event Info: https://loom.ly/v0TOhEI

On Nov 19, 12 PM, join us at UIC: 909 S. Wolcott, Room 585. We're marking the 50th anniversary of the Cook County Hospital doctors' strike with a free screening of "HSA Strike '75" and a discussion on its legacy for healthcare and labor. Event info:https://loom.ly/IhTLmVI

Excited to announce we got an FY26 IAC grant! We are so grateful to the Illinois Arts Council for supporting arts across our state.

RIP Tony Adler. Here's a lovely video of him teaching poetry to senior citizens from the 1970s.

Ratso the puppet interviews Sleater-Kinney for Chic-A-Go-Go, from July 2000. Carrie and Janet (aka "Mitzi") show off their juggling skills. Talk of favorite foods, their new album, and how many Grammys the band would win if Ratso joined.

Studs’ Place: The Lost Sitcom That Put Working-Class Life on TV. Our latest blog post by scholar and guest author Jason J. Nebergall offers an analysis of how Studs Terkel's radical, working-class ethos was translated into the emerging television medium. Read more at: https://loom.ly/JDD26kA

Watch the full episode of Chic-A-Go-Go's "Monster Party" Halloween episode here! mediaburn.org/videos/chic-...

Spooky Halloween music from the legendary Chic-A-Go-Go. Dance along with Miss Mia and Ratso to Chicago's Team Satan! www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lfm6...

This Nov, celebrate Siskel & Ebert's 50th! See their favorite "hidden gem" films each Wednesday (Nov 5, 12, 19, 25). Don't miss a live "Sneak Previews" performance on Nov 22 Location: Chicago Cultural Center 78 E. Washington St. Chicago, IL 60602 TICKETS: https://loom.ly/V2_oo_s

The world lost a special person this week. Read Media Burn founder Tom Weinberg's tribute to artist, poet, actor, and Chicagoan, Tony Fitzpatrick, “a roisterer, a prodigious giant with gigantic appetites.” https://loom.ly/CTAFD28

Don’t miss this special 20th anniversary screening of Forgiving Dr. Mengele with Media Burn board member Bob Hercules in person. Event Details:
 [October 16th ] [7:00 PM]
 Wayfarer Theater, Highland Park Tickets: $15 | FREE for Wayfarer Unlimited Members More info: https://loom.ly/Ib_NkuY

We're so excited to be part of this special trivia night at the Hideout, commemorating the 50th anniversary of Sneak Previews, the legendary TV show that paired newspaper critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert to talk (and argue) about the movies. October 15, 7:30pm! https://loom.ly/IjsJPVQ

Throughout Media Burn’s recordings of performance art, few performers stand out as much as the untouchable Gurlene and Gurlette Hussey (Randy Esslinger and Doug Stapleton). Their drag is, in Gurlene’s words, 'Hairy, horny, tattooed, shameless, saucy, mischievous.” Read more: https://loom.ly/g40Hb1I

RIP Ryno

Last week, CBS announced that it would be canceling The Late Show, the ratings leader by a large margin. Its host, Stephen Colbert, had used his platform to criticize CBS’s “big fat bribe.” Like so many other famous Chicagoans, Colbert shows up in Media Burn’s archive: https://loom.ly/WjJM5oY

Last month we lost P. Adams Sitney, unquestionably the most important and influential scholar of avant-garde film. Here is a remarkable interview with him, recorded in 1974 just after the publication of "Visionary Film," on what makes avant-garde films unique.

ACT UP Goes Shopping! Judith Binder follows ACT UP activists to the Sherman Oaks Galleria, where they pass out pamphlets about safe sex and HIV/AIDS, and condoms, until security kicks them out. www.youtube.com/watch?v=UteQ...

While my grandfather suffered from being incarcerated without charges or evidence after Pearl Harbor, I hope to honor him by telling his story so that the courts will exercise their duty to check the Trump Administration’s overreach in their deportation zealotry.

Read this moving and infuriating blog post from Daniel Mayeda about the US government's shameful history of employing the Alien Enemies Act against immigrants and minorities, including his own family.

“People stop me on the street and say, ‘Jesus Christ, I read your book, Working, and I’ll never talk to a telephone operator that same way. I’ll never treat a waitress the same way, or look at a truck driver the same way. You’ve changed the way I think.’”--Studs Terkel. More: https://loom.ly/5b2_nhY

An amazing early 1970s sketch from Second City, starring Joe Flaherty as William F. Buckley and John Belushi as Truman Capote. Shot by Anda Korsts. www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwD4...

The day is finally here! We are launching the brand new mediaburn.org, which will make it easier for you to find new videos and learn about this history of independent media production. Please take a look and let us know what you think! We welcome your input and your eagle eye.

RIP George Wendt

We're pleased to be co-presenting a screening in partnership with The West Ridge Artists Group and FORA (Forging Opportunities for Refugees in America) of videos produced by activist filmmaker Mirko Popadic. At FORA, 6435 N California in Chicago's West Ridge neighborhood.

RIP Michael Miner. Chicago was so much richer and more interesting thanks to him.

RIP Michael Miner. Chicago was so much richer and more interesting thanks to him.

Happy May Day from Studs Terkel, via @mediaburn.bsky.social

Next Monday, May 5! Join director Louise Denver and scholar Dr. Ciara Chambers for a virtual screening/discussion of the rediscovered masterpiece "Streets of Ulster." Monday, May 5 5pm CST (6pm EST/3pm PST/11pm BST)

Thurs! Free virtual screening: "Women of Northside Fight Back," with director Christine Noschese and scholar @tanyagoldman.bsky.social. When an expanding paper box company threatened to destroy homes in Brooklyn, residents discovered that you CAN fight city hall. Register: loom.ly/ww4BjGY

Here's a video of Roger Ebert reading Mike Royko's hilarious account of watching, and absolutely hating, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls.

4/17: The Radical Art of the Sandin Image Processor at Gene Siskel Film Center. Screening/discussion with Dan Sandin, Lee Blalock, Jon Satrom, and James Connolly. Try out the Sandin Image Processor! In partnership with Conversations at the Edge and Video Data Bank. mediaburn.org/events/4-17-...

We had a great time hosting THREE tours as part of #SCMS25!

24 April at 7pm ET/4pm PT — @mediaburn.bsky.social will be hosting a virtual screening + discussion of WOMEN OF THE NORTHSIDE FIGHT BACK (1975)—about community activism in Brooklyn—with the documentary's co-director Christine Noschese; I'm moderating. Join us! 🙌 www.eventbrite.com/e/women-of-n...

Hey everybody, meet Eniarc, the homemade robot from Chicago Ridge.

"Mr. Computer" explains email and how you can "talk" over the computer in 1982.

Harold Pinter on fascists: "ANYONE who reads is a communist as far as you're concerned.... [In a fascist society] people who read or people who dare to bring a couple of sandwiches to children... means that something's wrong, that he's questioning, he's giving too much..."

Check out this very charming conversation with teen/tween mall rats with the tallest hair you've ever seen, talking about how much they love the arcade and taco bell and ALLLLL the cute guys. From the Southdale Center Mall, just outside of Minneapolis, in December 1991.

Thursday March 13: join Media Burn for a free virtual screening/celebration of video portraitist Joan Logue, moderated by Helena Shaskevich. It will include videos from the '70s - 2010s, including an extremely rare presentation of some of Logue's earliest work. www.eventbrite.com/e/virtual-ta...

A very young Stephen Colbert (aka third-year resident "Dr. Steven Sims") stars in the educational film "Mentor: Friends in Residency." www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYe-...

The legendary Holly Woodlawn performing "I'm Tired" from Blazing Saddles!!! From Judith Binder's recording of Woodlawn's cabaret act in 1995 - which is a delight, start to finish! www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgFo...

Adult: "Is it a good thing to tell on people?" Kid: "That depends. If you're tellin' on the mafia, that's bad." Join us for a free virtual screening/celebration of Community TV Network, who has put video cameras in the hands of the people for more than 50 years. www.eventbrite.com/e/community-...

Media Burn board member Ben Kolak and his team at Truth & Documentary are documenting the impact of Trump's policies on immigrants and refugees in Chicago. This is a scene from their work in progress, filmed last week. mediaburn.org/video/good-v...