Angela Stich

Three bicycle patrol cops and a man dressed as Jesus gather outside the Daley Center.

No, seriously.

They're peering through the glass behind the stage, where a "traditional" Japanese shy-smiling Geisha girl dances, some white guy shows off "forms" with his sword and a karate-school demonstration opens for the main event: the "Crazy 88s."

"How many of you have seen the movie [pause] `KILL BILL'?" asks the announcer. Audience members look at each other incredulously and slowly raise their hands. He explains in broken English that the next group, Kamui, played the "Crazy 88s" and trained Lucy Liu and Uma Thurman in sword-fighting techniques.

With that, the group rushes the stage: all three of them.

There is no blood, no guts and no severed heads as the group skillfully dodges each other's swords and twirls gracefully about. As they end their first number, the "Kill Bill" song blares on the sound system: you know, THE "Kill Bill" song, the one used in so many commercials now that it's going to put composer Tomoyasu Hotei's children through college?

The predominantly white audience claps to the beat, snapping photographs with their camera phones. Welcome to the Year of the Tarantino.

(2005-01-04)

Also by Angela Stich

School spirit
The November Chicago School Board meeting is overwhelmingly dominated by public criticism of Mayor Daley's controversial Renaissance 2010 plan
(2004-11-22)

Everyday low wages
A handful of Wal-Mart managers have come to Women and Children First Bookstore to challenge the claims of Liza Featherstone, who is reading from her book "Selling Women Short: The Landmark Battle for Workers' Rights at Wal-Mart."
(2004-11-17)

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