More on Cordero!

This summer’s arts programming presented by the City of Evanston will kick off on Thursday, June 12, with a combination exhibition opening/concert performance by photographer Chris Verene, drummer for the Brooklyn band, Cordero (Bloodshot Records). The exhibit opens with a reception from 5 to 6:30 p.m. at the Noyes Cultural Arts Center, 927 Noyes Street, Evanston. Verene will then head over to James Park (Dodge Avenue at Mulford, one block south of Oakton in Evanston) to open this year’s Starlight Concert Series with a return engagement by Cordero at 7:30 p.m. Both events are free.

Verene has been making documentary photographs about his family's rural Illinois hometown of Galesburg for the past two decades. The simple color photographs are unstaged and reflect a plain yet beautiful side of American life that might otherwise pass by uncelebrated. The project has been exhibited throughout the world in galleries and museums, published as a major book, and profiled by many well-known art publications. The works are in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Jewish Museum, the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles, the Walker Art Center, and many others. Verene is a professor of photography at the School of Visual Arts in New York, and divides his time between New York, Galesburg, and his career as a traveling musician.

Fronted by Verene’s wife Ani, Cordero is a leading light in the Rock en Espanol movement. The bilingual band melds Latin rhythms and melodies to angular indie rock, “mixing the open atmospherics of the Southwest with the gritty feel of the Brooklyn art scene,” says the New York Times. Cordero’s 2006 show in Evanston was a highlight of that year's Starlight series.

The Starlight Concert Series features 16 free performances at four park sites throughout Evanston: James, Dawes, Twiggs, and Harbert Park. For a complete schedule of shows, visit www.cityofevanston.org/arts or www.evanstonartsbuzz.com, or call 847.448.8260.