A View From the Sears Tower's Ledge
Illinois Is Getting Fatter
Mayor Blames Violent Holiday Weekend On Booze, Heat
Kuma's Pats Itself On Back With Block Party
Chicagoan Involved In Mount Rushmore Ruckus
The saga of the Loop Lab school looks like it may be solved. And it doesn't look good for the state getting it's money back in spite of an earlier ruling. If you remember, then-governor Blagojevich intended for the money to go to the recently burned down Pilgrim Baptist Church but it seems he mistakenly promised it to Elmira Mayes, who was then leading the Loop Lab School which had been renting space at the church at the time of the fire. After a lot of confusion, the school took the money to buy a new space downtown but then flipped the property. Even shadier, the school's leader, Chandra Gill, had been the recipient of a Blago pardon. Lisa Madigan eventually sued the school and the school eventually agreed to repay the state. But an audit by the Illinois Auditor General's office shows that it's very unlikely the state will see that money, calling out the Blago administration for "a lack of due diligence" on its "bureaucratic mistake."
add to digg
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
email this
tweet this
add to facebook
If Jacques Brel’s name rings a bell, chances are good that you’re thinking of the musical revue Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris - which will NOT be performed at Theater On The Lake this weekend. What WILL be performed is a remount of Theo Ubique Theatre Company’s critically-acclaimed production of Jacques Brel’s Lonesome Losers of the Night.
We'll have our picks for the upcoming Pitchfork Music Fest next week, but WBEZ and their Council of Hipsters has already started breaking down the schedule.
The National Endowment for the Arts announced the 631 recipients of $29,775,000 in direct grants as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Twenty-four Illinois organizations will receive a total of $1,025,000, with all but $100,000 being given to twenty-one Chicago- and Evanston-based groups.
This amazing scene comes to us from the bizarre 1977 Japanese horror film, Hausu. No words can describe it. Just....enjoy.
The Fiery Furnaces may now hail from Brooklyn but they were born in Oak Park, sprouting from the fertile crowns of brother and sister team Matthew and Eleanor Friedberger. They've made their name creating markedly disjointed music, only recently cutting the artifice with steadier and more traditional drumming alongside the occasional glam chord. Their last album, Widow City, found the band finally channeling their weirdness through undeniable pop structures pocked with indelible melodies. To be honest, it was the first Fiery Furnaces album we honestly liked from start to finish.
Okay, probably not. But still - animatronic versions of America's presidents have always freaked us out in a way that Disney's Haunted Mansion could never manage to accomplish. DisneyWorld recently updated their Hall of Presidents and created an Obamabot to fill that 44th chair on the stage, and took us behind the scenes via YouTube to show us exactly what goes on behind that magical curtain.
The Old Town School of Folk Music presents its twelfth annual installment of the Chicago Folk and Roots Festival this weekend in Lincoln Square. The Festival, spread across Welles Park, brings a steady stream of activities to a usually friendly, laid-back crowd: performances by Old Town staff, open jam sessions by the gazebo, dance lessons with live music, and a tent for kids, although we should point out that that's an area with entertainment for children, not a place to store them.
With the state budget mess well documented already, Governor Quinn is hacking away at state spending to save money. One possible solution Quinn is considering? Early release of inmates, something that's already legal for inmates who are less than a year away from their scheduled release date. Of course, this is just one of several possible moves under consideration by Quinn, who said at a press conference yesterday, "We're going to take a look at everything under the Department of Corrections." Read more over at The Daily Herald for reactions to the high-risk potential move.
Summertime: living is easy, the fish are jumping, and it's time to sit back with a long cool one and get pleasantly hammered. We have just the thing.
The smell of fresh bread baking in the morning always often brings back memories of growing up across the street from the Mary Ann Bakery in the Hermosa/Kelvyn Park neighborhood. The bakery also made S. Rosen branded baked goods and we would head to school with near-certain knowledge that if we ate a hot dog or burger at lunch, it would be served on either a Mary Ann or S. Rosen bun.
Reacting to the violent holiday weekend that saw 11 people killed in over 60 shootings (and a stabbing thrown in for good measure), Mayor Daley took to the defensive, citing other reasons rather than the diversion of police to cover the Taste of Chicago (which had its own issues). Namely, the mayor blamed alcohol and the warmer weather for the outbreak.
Last week, the Sears Tower's newest attraction opened to much fanfare: The Ledge. Located in the Tower's 103rd floor Skydeck, the Ledge consists of four retractable boxes (three are currently open and the fourth opens this fall) that stick out on the Tower's west face, allowing visitors to look straight down onto Wacker Drive. All 1,353 feet down. While most of the media got a look at the Ledge last week, Fellow Chicagoist staffer Prescott and I waited out the holiday and paid a visit yesterday when Skydeck General Manager Randy Stancik guided us through the new attraction.
Recent Comments
Over 100Up to 300 Graves Dug Up For Reselling: Burr Oak cemetery is the historic American-African cemetery and I believe that the government of...