While festivalgoers swarmed Grant Park over four days at Lollapalooza and artists graced the stages, caterers behind the scenes set up their extensive lineup of gourmet VIP meals to feed the performers and their crews each day. 

But a lot of that food goes to waste, said Maria Brunner, founder of Musically Fed, a national nonprofit that partners with the music industry to fight food insecurity. 

“Right now, as we speak, 20 hotel pans are being taken to Centro Romero — there’s some chicken and some sides,” Brunner said last week. “And the interesting thing about outlets like this is they’ll double it. They’ll use magic to turn it into a lot of food.” 

During Lollapalooza, Musically Fed and its volunteer team were on-site each day to collect, organize and distribute unused food to organizations supporting unhoused individuals, veterans, women in crisis and low-income families — including Centro Romero, Deborah’s Place, Pacific Garden Mission, Care For Real and Lincoln Park Community Services. 

On Friday, Deborah’s Place — a shelter that houses women experiencing homelessness in Chicago — received 15 to 20 trays of food that helped feed 64 residents for dinner that day, and lunch the next.

Ravinia Williams, who runs the women’s shelter, said the donations also helped the residents of the apartment side, which includes those without income or SNAP benefits.

“Receiving such a huge donation helps feed those who are without the necessary resources and funding to actually purchase their own food,” Williams said. “It’s very, very helpful.” 

Deborah’s Place houses a young woman who is vegan, Williams noted, and one of the trays Musically Fed donated was a plant-based dish. 

“She’s been having a hard time. I was so glad that we were able to provide such a meal for her — if it wasn’t for Musically Fed, she said she might not have had a meal tonight.” 

Brunner created the Phoenix-based organization to help veterans experiencing homelessness, hunger and food insecurity in honor of her husband, who served in the Vietnam War. Brunner, a music industry veteran of more than 30 years, wanted to push the notion that the live music community can be a force for good.

“I decided to see if I could put together a viable program that would repurpose unused backstage catering from concerts and festivals,” she explained. After the Zac Brown Band and Fleetwood Mac invited Brunner and her budding team in 2016 on their national tours to feed homeless people throughout America — something clicked. 

“We thought: Hey, we could really do this,” Brenner said. Over time, they learned how to implement the mission in cities across the country. 

Ravinia Williams, left, a manager at Deborah’s Place, watches as volunteers from Musically Fed drop off uneaten food, originally provided to workers and musicians at the music festival Lollapalooza, on July 31, 2025. Deborah’s Place is a supportive housing facility near Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune)

Brunner said they’ve recently coordinated all aspects of food handling, transport and donation distribution for unused food from Billie Eilish concerts, Coldplay concerts and the Grammy Awards. In the Chicago area, Musically Fed partners year-round with several venues, including Huntington Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island and Credit Union 1 Amphitheatre in Tinley Park. 

Weeks before Lollapolooza even begins, Musically Fed’s staff gets to work behind the scenes starting in mid-July to coordinate early crew meal pickups. 

Volunteers work with Lollapalooza’s catering company, Black Caviar, to assess what’s available and develop logistical plans with local nonprofit partners. Brunner said they were able to repurpose lunch for 10 days leading up to opening day. On the Saturday before the festival, the Franciscan Center received seven pans of food totaling 100 meals. Brunner said thousands of meals were delivered to the doorsteps of Musically Fed’s local nonprofit partners throughout the week. 

“I look at it as a zero-sum game. It’s food that should be consumed somewhere,” said Larry Nutter, a Chicago-based volunteer and board president of Musically Fed. “If we don’t have that much left over that meal, that’s great, then (the caterer) is doing their job. But if they have too much, then we take it and make sure it gets eaten. No food is wasted.” 

Nutter was onsite coordinating the food distribution system from unused backstage catering and guiding the volunteer staff as they delivered food to organizations such as Centro Romero, which serves the immigrant and refugee communities on the Northeast side of Chicago. 

The rotating menu featured items like roasted vegetables, pulled pork, roasted chicken, dirty rice salad and taco fixings. 

“You’re feeding all these people, but it’s really good food,” Nutter said. “They always have healthy options like salad bars, too. People eat pretty well.” 

During Lollapolooza, Musically Fed only collected unused food from the two kitchens that serve artists, crews and festival organizers, as well as VIP food tents. On the Monday after, however, Musically Fed procured items from concessions. 

“People will give us what they don’t want, so we get a lot of different things from the concessions — we might get 100 pounds of hamburgers or frozen Wow Bao Buns — we’ve gotten 35 gallons of Italian ice before,” Nutter said. 

Some vendors will give volunteers unsold items at the end of the day, provided they are temperature-safe to consume, but most wait until the festival concludes, according to Nutter.

“Chicago is a great city for us. Every time we do Lollapolooza, we learn more. This is a big deal for us — people might think we just kind of pull it from the sky and we’re good. We cover all the overhead liability training but we can always use donations to keep it going,” she said. 

Brunner said Musically Fed has donated almost 30,000 meals to Chicago-area nonprofits over the last four years from Lollapolooza. And since the organization started six years ago, Musically Fed has donated a total of over 700,000 meals to people across the country through various music festivals and concerts. 

“Now here comes the real interesting dilemma: if you let people know that’s how much we donated, there are people that will go, ‘Well, why did you buy so much?’” Brunner said. “But when you’ve got cruise bands and artists, you want to feed the crew and you want to make sure you have enough. But I think it’s great that they are giving it to us because this is why we exist.” 

Musically Fed first taps their local nonprofit partners for donation drops — which includes extensive planning on both ends — before reaching out to “any and everyone” who might find what they don’t use helpful. 

At last year’s Lollapolooza, Brunner said she was trying hard to get in touch with someone at the Shedd Aquarium because volunteers had procured 32 pounds of unused fresh spinach: “We didn’t have anyone who wanted it, but the animals could eat it!” 

Worth Considering

“An Immigrant’s Guide to America” is an intimate look into a Russian immigrant’s intercultural confusion, embarrassment and sweet moments of success. The one-man show features three simple ingredients: a mic, a guitar and Sufian Zhemukhov’s stories. Each show is different, and the Aug. 3 afternoon performance was about “flirting like an American”. Zhemukhov playfully pulls many laughs from the audience with his smart writing and relatable anecdotes. Although the performance is rough around the edges with its unpolished delivery, Zhemukhov comes across as your endearing immigrant uncle playing guitar and detailing his awkward first years in the U.S.

Presented by Sufian Zhemukhov at Open Eye Theatre; 7 p.m. Aug. 5, 5:30 p.m. Aug. 6, 10 p.m. Aug. 9

Still trying to decide what to see? Check out all the Pioneer Press 2025 Fringe reviews, with each show rated on a scale of Must See, Worth Considering, Could Be Worse or You Can Skip It.

The Minnesota Fringe Festival is presenting nearly 100 hourlong stage acts from July 31 through Aug. 10 around Minneapolis. Visit MinnesotaFringe.org for ticket and show information.

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Could Be Worse

Listening to the intimate details of friends’ dates and hook-ups is fun. Watching Scarlett d. Jones recite stories from her book “The Year of Sluttery: A Journey of Sex, Self, and Singlehood” — pages of which are printed out on a music stand in front of her — for “The Year of Sluttery” show is slightly cringey. She cheerfully recounts the “audacious b****” she is post-marriage, and all respect to her for embracing her sexuality! At times, the act seems to be a chance for her to laugh at her own jokes. Still, witnessing someone’s joy as they recount a transformative time in their life — even if it involves sexting — can be wholesome.

Presented by Scarlett d. Jones at Open Eye Theatre; 8:30 p.m. Aug. 5, 10 p.m. Aug. 7, 2:30 p.m. Aug. 10

Still trying to decide what to see? Check out all the Pioneer Press 2025 Fringe reviews, with each show rated on a scale of Must See, Worth Considering, Could Be Worse or You Can Skip It.

The Minnesota Fringe Festival is presenting nearly 100 hourlong stage acts from July 31 through Aug. 10 around Minneapolis. Visit MinnesotaFringe.org for ticket and show information.

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By KEVIN FREKING, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawmakers have left Washington for the annual August recess, but a few weeks of relative quiet on the U.S. Capitol grounds can’t mask the partisan tensions that are brewing on government funding and President Donald Trump’s nominees. It could make for a momentous September.

Here’s a look at what’s ahead when lawmakers return following the Labor Day holiday.

A bitter spending battle ahead

Lawmakers will use much of September to work on spending bills for the coming budget year, which begins Oct. 1. They likely will need to pass a short-term spending measure to keep the government funded for a few weeks while they work on a longer-term measure that covers the full year.

It’s not unusual for leaders from both parties to blame the other party for a potential shutdown, but the rhetoric began extra early this year, signaling the threat of a stoppage is more serious than usual.

Sen. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of N.Y., listens during a news conference on tariffs on Capitol Hill, Thursday, July 31, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)

On Monday, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries sent their Republican counterparts a sharply-worded letter calling for a meeting to discuss “the government funding deadline and the health care crisis you have visited upon the American people.”

They said it will take bipartisanship to avert a “painful, unnecessary shutdown.”

“Yet it is clear that the Trump Administration and many in your party are preparing to go it alone and continue to legislate on a solely Republican basis,” said the letter sent to Senate Majority Leader John Thune and House Speaker Mike Johnson.

Republicans have taken note of the warnings and are portraying the Democrats as itching for a shutdown they hope to blame on the GOP.

“It was disturbing to hear the Democrat leader threaten to shut down the government in his July 8 Dear Colleague letter,” Thune said on Saturday. “… I really hope that Democrats will not embrace that position but will continue to work with Republicans to fund the government.”

Different approaches from the House and Senate

So far, the House has approved two of the 12 annual spending bills, mostly along party lines. The Senate has passed three on a strongly bipartisan basis. The House is pursuing steep, non-defense spending cuts. The Senate is rejecting many of those cuts. One side will have to give. And any final bill will need some Democratic support to generate the 60 votes necessary to get a spending measure to the finish line.

Some Democratic senators are also wanting assurances from Republicans that there won’t be more efforts in the coming weeks to claw back or cancel funding already approved by Congress.

“If Republicans want to make a deal, then let’s make a deal, but only if Republicans include an agreement they won’t take back that deal a few weeks later,” said Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.

The U.S. Capitol is reflected in a puddle outside of the Rayburn House Office Building, Wednesday, July 16, 2025, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, R-Tenn., a veteran member of the House Appropriations committee, said the Democratic minority in both chambers has suffered so many legislative losses this year, “that they are stuck between a rock and their voting base.” Democrats may want to demonstrate more resistance to Trump, but they would rue a shutdown, he warned.

“The reality would be, if the government were shut down, the administration, Donald Trump, would have the ability to decide where to spend and not spend,” Fleischmann said. “Schumer knows that, Jeffries knows that. We know that. I think it would be much more productive if we start talking about a short-term (continuing resolution.)”

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Republican angry about pace of nominations

Republicans are considering changes to Senate rules to get more of Trump’s nominees confirmed.

Thune said last week that during the same point in Joe Biden’s presidency, 49 of his 121 civilians nominees had been confirmed on an expedited basis through a voice vote or a unanimous consent request. Trump has had none of his civilian nominees confirmed on an expedited basis. Democrats have insisted on roll call votes for all of them, a lengthy process than can take days.

“I think they’re desperately in need of change,” Thune said of Senate rules for considering nominees. “I think that the last six months have demonstrated that this process, nominations is broken. And so I expect there will be some good robust conversations about that.”

Schumer said a rules change would be a “huge mistake,” especially as Senate Republicans will need Democratic votes to pass spending bills and other legislation moving forward.

The Senate held a rare weekend session as Republicans worked to get more of Trump’s nominees confirmed. Negotiations focused on advancing dozens of additional Trump nominees in exchange for some concessions on releasing some already approved spending.

At times, lawmakers spoke of progress on a potential deal. But it was clear that there would be no agreement when Trump attacked Schumer on social media Saturday evening and told Republicans to pack it up and go home.

“Tell Schumer, who is under tremendous political pressure from within his own party, the Radical Left Lunatics, to GO TO HELL!” Trump posted on Truth Social.

Associated Press writers Mary Clare Jalonick and Joey Cappelletti contributed to this report.