The fine folks at North Shore Distillery (by the way, their Distiller's Gin No. 11, the second highest-rated American made gin— their Distiller's No. 6 is the highest rated) are looking for some good local artists to help them design some artwork for future advertising campaigns. To that end, they've decided to hold a contest to choose a winning design and want local artists to enter their best submissions. A cash prize is involved. For......

The first time you hear them, Dengue Fever is one of those bands that will most likely cause you to do a spit-take. Um, psychedelic Cambodian go-go music anyone? It sounds like the sort of thing that might've been blasting out if G.I. radios as they danced shirtless at the helm of their pontoon boats, fighting off mosquitoes, and getting so high they'd forget how to swim if they lost their balance. If you want......

The F Yeah tour hits The Mansion (2408 N Kedzie) tomorrow night with Matt & Kim, Monotonix, Team Robespierre, Mannequin Men, and Crystal Antlers. (Yes, Matt & Kim are also playing Hideout earlier in the evening, and this set was supposed to be a secret, but their label let the cat out of the bag, so there you go.) Tickets are only ten bucks, but we've got two free ones to give away to......

North Carolinian experimental indie kids Annuals are on nature kick as they tour in support of their major label debut EP, Wet Zoo (Sony/Canvasback). The youngsters' catchy brand of loud-soft, organic-synthetic exuberance made them blog darlings in the Internet-fruitful musical year of 2006, and Annuals' exploration of the weird trappings of youth through a blend of rural-ish folk-pop and symphonic studio bombast continues on Wet Zoo. Not ones to let the prep for a new......

Sure, it seems like Adam Green's ex-bandmate Kimya Dawson is getting all the accolades for last year's Juno soundtrack, which is funny since he co-wrote the biggest hit on that record, but folks should be directing their focus on Green's new cabaret leanings, leaving his old anti-folk tunes in the dust. His latest album, Sixes & Sevens, mixes Lee Hazelwood's cinematic sonic styling with a sly sexiness that would do Serge Gainsbourg proud. The 20......

You still have some time to win some of the 2-CD Best Of Radiohead sets, or the Radiohead DVD video collections we're giving away. Unfortunately we had some technical problems with our entry form yesterday, so if you couldn't enter earlier yesterday you should be able to enter now.......

We are obviously stoked that Radiohead is coming into town to play Lollapalooza later this summer. To warm up for the big event we'll be poring over all their previous albums so we can knowingly drop all sorts of references and tidbits to our dates during the band's set. But if you don't already own all their albums, you can get a quick lesson through the 2-disc compilation that come out tomorrow containing much of......

With his enemies waiting in the wings, and federal prosecutors seemingly closing in, now seems like as good a time as any to start our Rod Blagojevich Political Death Pool. In the comments below, write the date you think Blago will go down and why. The person who gets closest to the actual date and reason will win one of our super sexy Chicagoist t-shirts, available for purchase right here. Good ways the governor might......

Honestly, the last time The Lemonheads were in town they blew us away. Evan Dando carries an unfair reputation of putting on shambolic shows, and while that may have been true in the past, we've never seen that side of him. Sure, on-stage he can come across as a pleasantly buzzed good-time dude between songs, but once the music starts, he's locked into each and every song, injecting a ruggedness into his sweet pop tunes.......

The Teenagers have been steadily conquering the '80s-fixated dance rock crowd, first coming to our attention via remix efforts, notably the Yuksek "Homecoming remix and the "Fuck Nicole" SLUTTT Ketateen remix. While both those songs prepared us for the notion that The Teenagers had a wicked sense of humor based on dueling worldviews and less than rosy views on love, we weren't prepared for the simplicity, and directness, of the group's material sans remixers.......

Michigan might technically be two states away, but it's still a pretty short drive. That's why we're giving away two pairs of tickets to the gargantuan Rothbury Festival taking place in Rothbury, Michigan July 3-6. The full line-up is huge but some of the stand-outs are Diplo, Modest Mouse, Of Montreal, The Dresden Dolls, and, of course, Flosstradamus. If you don't win free tickets you can buy your own, but we encourage you to......

We really liked last year's Niggy Tardust disc Saul Williams put out. Here's what we said about it: The disc itself is pretty mesmerizing. Reznor creates jarring soundscapes for Williams to lay his own brand of street poetry over, and it's one of the best collaborations we've heard, especially considering how unlikely the pairing seems. Reznor's industrial pop bumps and grinds under Williams throaty vocals, creating an effect both vivifying and chilling. Williams is in......

We've mentioned OFFICE a bunch, and how much we like their smarty-pants pop, so we're pleased to be giving away two pairs of tickets to see them headline Reggie's Rock Club later tonight. Another Chicagoist fave, Ultra Sonic Edukkators is also playing, and the thought of they're hyper Brit-pop running headfirst into OFFICE's super tight arrangement makes us get all giddy, jumping up and down and clapping our hands. It's also worth noting that our......

Jay Reatard gets a little closer to his fans. Jay Reatard is playing Reggie's Rock Club tonight and we've got a pair of tickets for one lucky Chicagoist reader. Reatard lives in some glorious time warp where rockabilly cuts itself with broken glass and bashes headfirst into Dischord records. His songs throb with a spasmic energy and their anarchic structure is guaranteed to get the crowd spinning in circles, and the fists pumping the......

Groovy warp-y image via Holy Fuck's MySpace page. The Holy Fuck, A Place To Bury Strangers, and Airiel show this coming Sunday at Schubas sold out quite a while ago, but we've got a pair of tickets to give away to some lucky Chicagoist reader. It's the sort of show we HIGHLY recommend bringing a pair of earplugs to -- or more, if you want to become popular and make new friends -- since......

Last October the Healthy Schools Campaign hosted its "Cooking Up Change Healthy Cooking Contest" on a stormy night at Salvage One. Today, the winning entrée from students at Chicago Vocational Career Academy will be served at all high schools in the Chicago Public School system. The dish, a vegetarian-friendly course of red beans and rice with smothered cabbage and caramelized carrots, won out over 29 other dishes (entered by fifteen schools) in the competition. According......

Miss Michigan Kristen Haglund from Farmington Hills, Michigan, was crowned the 87th Miss America last night during the live pageant telecast, and First Runner-Up was Miss Indiana Nicole Elizabeth Rash. Haglund, a musical theatre major at the University of Cincinnati, hopes to raise awareness of eating disorders during her reign as Miss America. She sang “Over the Rainbow” for the talent competition. Rash also sang for her talent, and said her platform was Get on......

After months of spying and accounts of shooting around town, Bravo finally announced the contestants for the next season of "Top Chef" today (you can read the release here). While the lineup of chefs vying to impress Padma and company are largely from the coasts, three of the contestants have Chicago ties: Stephanie Izzard is best known around town as the former chef/owner of Scylla (replaced by the amazing Takashi) in Bucktown. Best known for......

• Londonist pondered who might be the next sponsors of the London Eye and whether or not readers would be willing to donate £1,000 each for a Londonist Eye.
• Shanghaiist was shocked to find a cameltoe in the city's only English-language paper.
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Continue Reading "Week Around the -Ists"

We were one of the few lucky enough to catch Jon Brion when he stopped by The Hideout earlier this year. His one-man band is truly an awesome spectacle top behold, and will seriously leave anyone withing earshot slack jawed. When we heard he was coming back to Chicago to play a New Year's Eve show at the Harris Theater in Millennium Park we immediately thought, "This is the show to beat." So far, no......

Hey, don't forget we're running a contest to win some cool Thrill Jockey swag through tomorrow. Have you entered yet? Today the label also released a night-by-night line-up for their big birthday shows in Chicago next month, although set-times and running order are still under wraps and will remain so. We suppose they want everyone to get there on time, since you will have no idea when your favorite act(s) is(are) playing. They're also releasing......

We're trying not to jinx it, but it looks like legislators might be solving the transit crisis, like, tomorrow. Mike Madigan agreed today to push for a Blago-backed plan that would use the State's share of the sales tax on gasoline in Cook and the five collar counties for the RTA. Even Daley's on board. Are we seeing a unicorn? Last week, Blagojevich endorsed Minority Leader Tom Cross's plan that would send around $385......

Thrill Jockey Records turns 15 this year, and in order to celebrate they've decided to throw themselves a couple of big-ass parties, one of which already occurred in London earlier month. However, the label has called Chicago home for over a decade, so we're expecting the 2 days of shows happening at Logan Square Auditorium on December 14 and 15 to blow London's party apart at the seams. We're told they're setting up 2 stages......

Manu Chao showed his love to Chicago with a sold-out show at the Aragon this past summer, and he was just awarded with his first-ever Latin Grammy. The multilingual and broadly multicultural songwriter fuses a variety of styles, including rock, reggae, punk and ska, which crosses cultural boundaries, appealing to many who don't typically dive into Latin music. For those of you who want to experience the true Spanish political punk in your own home,......

Okay, we had so much fun with yesterday's things that were awesome, we figured we'd bust out another list for today. Plus there's a boatload of terrific stuff. Today in awesome: We were going to save this for our annual gift guide, but we couldn't wait. That ridiculously cool maps on the left is from Chicago's own Jenny Beorkrem. Typographic illustration + Chicago maps = time for new pants. We can't stop listening to local......

We've already tripped all over ourselves about how terrific Great Northern is. In fact, here's a sampling of our past praise: The songs are gauzy in feel, but one can feel that covering a rock-solid base of powerful drive. Strings float in and out of the mix, guitars swell to the size of skyscrapers, and while the mood constantly feels as if sadness is tugging at the hems, optimistic buoyancy lifts each and every composition......

Can Mike Madigan and Rod Blagojevich please, please get a reality show? That way, when they have a "nonproductive" meeting like they did today, we have a full serving of drama to go with our intense disappointment and frustration? Today's meeting, between Blago, Madigan, Mayor Daley and state legislative leaders, was an attempt to make progress on the state transit funding...oh, let's call it an "issue." (Clusterfuck? Mess? Problem? Bargaining chip? Dick-wagging contest? All......

"100 Days, 100 Nights", the new album from Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, has been getting a serious workout from us since its release last month. We're guessing the Dap-Kings are happy to be back supporting the sassy Jones after a summer backing up the Amy Winehouse trainwreck. Seeing Jones and the Dap-Kings live was the sole redeeming factor of our last New Year's Eve on the town. They're playing Park West Thursday night,......

When Mission Of Burma reunited for a few shows a couple years ago we thought it was nice the old men were getting back together and getting some of the attention they certainly deserved. When we heard the reunion was going to be more or less permanent, we sort of prayed they wouldn't record a new album. They did anyway, and while we enjoyed it, we ultimately thought, "meh." Then they went ahead and......

The Annuals have garnered our praise in the past, and they're coming though town tomorrow with Manchester Orchestra (a band that is neither orchestral, nor Mancunian). We're not as familiar with Manchester Orchestra as we are The Annuals, but from what we've heard we expect their catchy indie-pop will go over well. They're music is plaintive yet rejoicing, and we find the mixture alluring. To commemorate the groups' touring together they're put together a split......