Philip Montoro
@pmontoro.bsky.social
Chicago Reader music editor and union cochair, amateur drummer, persistent cook. Signal: pmontoro.39
he/him/y'all
pmontoro@chicagoreader.com
he/him/y'all
pmontoro@chicagoreader.com
A little refresher on Pictoria Vark and Nothing Sticks, in case you missed the Reader's coverage at the time! chicagoreader.com/music/music-...
November 18, 2025 at 7:05 PM
A little refresher on Pictoria Vark and Nothing Sticks, in case you missed the Reader's coverage at the time! chicagoreader.com/music/music-...
Reposted by Philip Montoro
Jesus Christ. This is monstrous. Absolutely sickening. The journalists in that room should walk out en masse.
Trump suggests Khashoggi had it coming: "You're mentioning someone that was extremely controversial. A lot of people didn't like that gentleman that you're talking about. Whether you like him or didn't like him, things happen. But he knew nothing about it. You don't have to embarrass our guest."
November 18, 2025 at 5:56 PM
Jesus Christ. This is monstrous. Absolutely sickening. The journalists in that room should walk out en masse.
Reposted by Philip Montoro
It will likely cost Chicago taxpayers approximately $52 million in interest to borrow that money and pay off during the next five years, according to estimates provided to the Chicago City Council.
Chicago must borrow $283.3 million to cover the soaring cost of lawsuits alleging Chicago police officers committed a wide range of misconduct — including wrongful convictions and improper pursuits — as part of the city’s 2026 budget, Mayor Johnson said. https://to.wttw.com/4qZOXYt
Chicago Set to Borrow $283.3M to Resolve Police Misconduct Lawsuits
It will likely cost Chicago taxpayers approximately $52 million in interest to borrow that money and pay off during the next five years, according to estimates provided to the Chicago City Council by ...
to.wttw.com
November 18, 2025 at 4:11 PM
It will likely cost Chicago taxpayers approximately $52 million in interest to borrow that money and pay off during the next five years, according to estimates provided to the Chicago City Council.
Reposted by Philip Montoro
#NowPlaying Kelan Phil Cohran & Legacy, "African Skies." Fantastic spiritual jazz holy grail recently reissued in all the formats. kelanphilcohranlegacy.bandcamp.com/album/africa...
November 18, 2025 at 12:46 PM
#NowPlaying Kelan Phil Cohran & Legacy, "African Skies." Fantastic spiritual jazz holy grail recently reissued in all the formats. kelanphilcohranlegacy.bandcamp.com/album/africa...
Reposted by Philip Montoro
Solar’s price drop is astonishing: panels are now 98% cheaper than when I first analyzed them in 2004.
Today, building a fence with solar can be cheaper than using wood.
Today, building a fence with solar can be cheaper than using wood.
November 10, 2025 at 8:10 AM
Solar’s price drop is astonishing: panels are now 98% cheaper than when I first analyzed them in 2004.
Today, building a fence with solar can be cheaper than using wood.
Today, building a fence with solar can be cheaper than using wood.
Reposted by Philip Montoro
every epstein email is some creep complaining about MeToo and then being like “oh before i forget, any advice on how to use my position of authority to force women into sleeping with me?”
November 17, 2025 at 1:31 PM
every epstein email is some creep complaining about MeToo and then being like “oh before i forget, any advice on how to use my position of authority to force women into sleeping with me?”
FUCKING
NAZIS
NAZIS
"Agencies within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, including ICE, ERO, and CBP intend to implement a comprehensive plan to target Spanish-speaking churches across the country during the upcoming holiday season between Thanksgiving, Nov. 27, and Christmas, Dec. 25."
Exclusive: Trump DHS Plans Immigration Raids on Churches Over Holidays
The Trump Dept. of Homeland Security is briefing federal agencies on plans for immigration enforcement operations inside churches over holidays.
thisweekinworcester.com
November 18, 2025 at 2:05 AM
FUCKING
NAZIS
NAZIS
My friend Amanda's Soft Five project plays a record-release show at Elastic tonight as part of the Pleiades Series! Paige Alice Naylor shares the bill, and as per usual at Pleiades, there's also a jam open to femme/trans/nonbinary performers. elasticarts.org/events/pleia...
Pleiades Series: Soft Five, Paige Alice Naylor — Elastic Arts Foundation
November’s Pleiades Series serves as a record release celebration for Amanda Kraus’ project Soft Five! We’ll also hear from abstract voice/electronics composer Paige Alice Naylor. It will be a very sp...
elasticarts.org
November 17, 2025 at 11:27 PM
My friend Amanda's Soft Five project plays a record-release show at Elastic tonight as part of the Pleiades Series! Paige Alice Naylor shares the bill, and as per usual at Pleiades, there's also a jam open to femme/trans/nonbinary performers. elasticarts.org/events/pleia...
November 17, 2025 at 11:03 PM
Reposted by Philip Montoro
[middle-aged emo writer voice] I wrote about Algernon Cadwallader
The reunited Algernon Cadwallader are ready for today’s fights - Chicago Reader
Three years after reuniting, Algernon sound irrepressibly vigorous, as though energized by the prospect of engaging anew with the world’s current problems.
chicagoreader.com
November 17, 2025 at 8:46 PM
[middle-aged emo writer voice] I wrote about Algernon Cadwallader
Reposted by Philip Montoro
Just making stuff up. Chipmakers are not coming back to the US because of tariffs. Electronics manufacturing investment has been sinking, and all chips are completely exempt from higher tariffs as a giveaway to AI companies
www.apricitas.io/p/the-tariff...
www.apricitas.io/p/the-tariff...
November 17, 2025 at 8:13 PM
Just making stuff up. Chipmakers are not coming back to the US because of tariffs. Electronics manufacturing investment has been sinking, and all chips are completely exempt from higher tariffs as a giveaway to AI companies
www.apricitas.io/p/the-tariff...
www.apricitas.io/p/the-tariff...
It'd be a shame if these Patti Smith tickets were to go to waste! I am getting over a rotten virus too (probably the same flu), but maybe you can go.
CHICAGOSKY
It KILLS me but I have two tix tonight to THEE PATTI SMITH performing the entirety of the HORSES album (!!!!!!!!!!!!!) at the Chicago Theater and I'm getting over a rotten virus, & now the friend who was going to take them now can't go, either.
LMK if you wanna talk buying them...
It KILLS me but I have two tix tonight to THEE PATTI SMITH performing the entirety of the HORSES album (!!!!!!!!!!!!!) at the Chicago Theater and I'm getting over a rotten virus, & now the friend who was going to take them now can't go, either.
LMK if you wanna talk buying them...
a man singing into a microphone with sunglasses on
Alt: Patti fucking smith
media.tenor.com
November 17, 2025 at 5:58 PM
It'd be a shame if these Patti Smith tickets were to go to waste! I am getting over a rotten virus too (probably the same flu), but maybe you can go.
Reposted by Philip Montoro
Reposted by Philip Montoro
Housing organizers warn against putting people out “as long as I.C.E. is in our city.” https://bit.ly/4oGuo1C
Chicago tenants demand eviction moratorium amid federal invasion
Housing organizers are warning against putting people out on the street “as long as ICE is in our city.”
bit.ly
November 16, 2025 at 8:08 PM
Housing organizers warn against putting people out “as long as I.C.E. is in our city.” https://bit.ly/4oGuo1C
Reposted by Philip Montoro
There’s this pervasive idea that most scientific research is useless and it’d be great if the people who say that could propose an alternate system that could identify dead ends without doing the work first
November 15, 2025 at 9:57 PM
There’s this pervasive idea that most scientific research is useless and it’d be great if the people who say that could propose an alternate system that could identify dead ends without doing the work first
The Tapestry providers in Chicago are federally qualified health centers! I use the one on Devon.
If you’re someone with insurance, you should consider getting your healthcare at a local federally qualified health center because your payments subsidize care for uninsured people who need sliding fee scales and as more people become uninsured, FQHCs are going to need to serve more people
Find a Health Center
MetaDescription Dynamic Inject
findahealthcenter.hrsa.gov
November 16, 2025 at 5:13 PM
The Tapestry providers in Chicago are federally qualified health centers! I use the one on Devon.
Reposted by Philip Montoro
I see people claiming the head tax is going to public libraries, but as far as we’ve been told- it isnt. The good news is, our lackluster book budget may be restored. The bad news? We’re still facing 89 positions cut. After 52 positions were cut last year. That’s 11% of our workforce!
November 16, 2025 at 12:32 AM
I see people claiming the head tax is going to public libraries, but as far as we’ve been told- it isnt. The good news is, our lackluster book budget may be restored. The bad news? We’re still facing 89 positions cut. After 52 positions were cut last year. That’s 11% of our workforce!
Not that it is OK to arrest people for having criminal records.
16 out of 614.
They arrested ~16 people with criminal records.
They terrorized thousands,
brutalized protesters,
destroyed families,
cratered businesses,
tear-gassed a Halloween parade,
traumatized kids in a day care,
killed a man,
& pepper sprayed a baby…
for 16 people with criminal records.
They arrested ~16 people with criminal records.
They terrorized thousands,
brutalized protesters,
destroyed families,
cratered businesses,
tear-gassed a Halloween parade,
traumatized kids in a day care,
killed a man,
& pepper sprayed a baby…
for 16 people with criminal records.
NEWS: Internal Homeland Security documents on 600+ detainees to be released prove that the vast majority of immigrants detained in Chicago area are "low" public safety risk, even by the government's loose standards. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/14/o...
November 14, 2025 at 9:19 PM
Not that it is OK to arrest people for having criminal records.
Reposted by Philip Montoro
16 out of 614.
They arrested ~16 people with criminal records.
They terrorized thousands,
brutalized protesters,
destroyed families,
cratered businesses,
tear-gassed a Halloween parade,
traumatized kids in a day care,
killed a man,
& pepper sprayed a baby…
for 16 people with criminal records.
They arrested ~16 people with criminal records.
They terrorized thousands,
brutalized protesters,
destroyed families,
cratered businesses,
tear-gassed a Halloween parade,
traumatized kids in a day care,
killed a man,
& pepper sprayed a baby…
for 16 people with criminal records.
NEWS: Internal Homeland Security documents on 600+ detainees to be released prove that the vast majority of immigrants detained in Chicago area are "low" public safety risk, even by the government's loose standards. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/14/o...
Only 2.5% on list of 614 ‘Operation Midway Blitz’ arrestees had criminal histories, DOJ records show
Meanwhile, the other 598 people on the list had no listed criminal history at all.
www.chicagotribune.com
November 14, 2025 at 8:58 PM
16 out of 614.
They arrested ~16 people with criminal records.
They terrorized thousands,
brutalized protesters,
destroyed families,
cratered businesses,
tear-gassed a Halloween parade,
traumatized kids in a day care,
killed a man,
& pepper sprayed a baby…
for 16 people with criminal records.
They arrested ~16 people with criminal records.
They terrorized thousands,
brutalized protesters,
destroyed families,
cratered businesses,
tear-gassed a Halloween parade,
traumatized kids in a day care,
killed a man,
& pepper sprayed a baby…
for 16 people with criminal records.
Reposted by Philip Montoro
Because international student enrollment is so often used as a cudgel in discussions about immigration, this is a good time to remind people that international students aren't taking up spaces for US students at state schools, they are paying full tuition that FUNDS SCHOLARSHIPS FOR US STUDENTS.
November 14, 2025 at 5:32 PM
Because international student enrollment is so often used as a cudgel in discussions about immigration, this is a good time to remind people that international students aren't taking up spaces for US students at state schools, they are paying full tuition that FUNDS SCHOLARSHIPS FOR US STUDENTS.
Reposted by Philip Montoro
Biden didn’t release the Epstein files because Merrick Garland was actively investigating Epstein/Maxwell co-conspirators all the way up until January 2025. Then Trump shuttered the probe. www.cbsnews.com/news/jeffrey...
House Democrats press DOJ for details on Epstein co-conspirators probe that was "inexplicably killed"
Survivors of Jeffrey Epstein provided the Justice Department with "precise and detailed" information about 20 alleged co-conspirators, House Democrats say.
www.cbsnews.com
November 14, 2025 at 4:44 PM
Biden didn’t release the Epstein files because Merrick Garland was actively investigating Epstein/Maxwell co-conspirators all the way up until January 2025. Then Trump shuttered the probe. www.cbsnews.com/news/jeffrey...
Reader founder Mike Lenehan honors the memory of Tony Adler: chicagoreader.com/performing-a...
November 14, 2025 at 4:35 PM
Reader founder Mike Lenehan honors the memory of Tony Adler: chicagoreader.com/performing-a...
If you were planning on doing some record shopping, may I suggest doing it at Torn Light? After busted plumbing flooded the store in October, it's made no money at all for a month. That's rough for a small business. With any luck it's reopening this weekend! chicagoreader.com/music/gossip...
Torn Light Records reopens after a month of mopping up - Chicago Reader
Torn Light Records reopens after a month of mopping up, Public Works sells a “Fuck ICE” T-shirt to benefit immigrant groups, and more.
chicagoreader.com
November 13, 2025 at 8:47 PM
If you were planning on doing some record shopping, may I suggest doing it at Torn Light? After busted plumbing flooded the store in October, it's made no money at all for a month. That's rough for a small business. With any luck it's reopening this weekend! chicagoreader.com/music/gossip...
Reposted by Philip Montoro
Even after the passage of the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act, local officials and everyday people resisted the legalized abductions of Black Chicagoans. https://bit.ly/4oHpDVu
Chicago has always defied kidnappings of our neighbors - Chicago Reader
Even after the passage of the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act, local officials and everyday people resisted the legalized abductions of men, women, and children who had escaped slavery
bit.ly
November 12, 2025 at 7:51 PM
Even after the passage of the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act, local officials and everyday people resisted the legalized abductions of Black Chicagoans. https://bit.ly/4oHpDVu
Rest in peace to former Reader theater critic and editor Tony Adler. This piece dates from his departure from the paper in 2018, but today he left us in a more final way. I worked alongside him for 22 years, and I will always miss his clear eye and terrible jokes. chicagoreader.com/blogs/goodby...
Goodbye to Tony Adler, the best weekly theater critic Chicago's ever had - Chicago Reader
His retirement after 38 years will leave a void both at the Reader and in Chicago's theater scene.
chicagoreader.com
November 11, 2025 at 8:17 PM
Rest in peace to former Reader theater critic and editor Tony Adler. This piece dates from his departure from the paper in 2018, but today he left us in a more final way. I worked alongside him for 22 years, and I will always miss his clear eye and terrible jokes. chicagoreader.com/blogs/goodby...