This morning as we arrived for work at the Chicagoist office, we couldn't help but notice most of the side-streets in the vicinity hadn't been touched by plow or salt in almost 10 days, causing most of the roads to become slick with ice from where drivers had repeatedly driven over the several inches of snow that have piled up in that time. We wondered if we were alone in our consternation and it looks like we are not. Daley insists the city is doing its best to remove side-street snow and ice without resorting to overtime. Meanwhile, both residents and aldermen say requests to 311 aren't being handled in a timely manner.

We understand that the snowfall so far has been in relatively small increments and you can't plow for every single little snowfall. However, there's no question the build-up is creating a dangerous situation and if our streets can't get plowed in the days between three-inch snows, how in the blue hell are the streets going to be plowed if a big snowfall hits? As one of our readers suggested, we think Mayor Daley would do well to just strap some plows to those new police SUVs the city is shelling out for. Economic factor solved!

Update: After reading your comments, we're interested in hearing what streets have and haven't been plowed. We'll start: most of the side streets in the Roscoe Village area remain untouched, save for Roscoe, Damen, and a stretch of Ravenswood.

If you look around work tomorrow and notice some empty cubicles, it's probably not a flu outbreak but rather your co-workers "called in gay" in reaction to California's Proposition 8 and other anti-same sex marriage initiatives. Day Without A Gay is a movement encouraging LGBT folks nationwide to skip work tomorrow, December 10th, and head down to a local LGBT community organization that needs help:

In Chicago, the Gay Liberation Network has called for an 11 a.m. rally outside the County Building, 118 N. Clark St., to call for granting marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Network co-founder Andy Thayer said he didn't expect people to actually "call in gay," but added that "many people will find one way or the other to not be in work that day, because we're sick of being treated like second-class citizens."

Now, as far as we know you can't just march over to Howard Brown or the Center on Halsted with a cheery, "How can I help?" The former asks volunteers to complete an application, and the latter requires volunteers to attend an orientation first (currently full until February of next year). So instead check out this list of Chicago-area volunteer opportunities if you want to participate. And please stop back Thursday and share with us tales of co-workers who legitimately called in sick tomorrow and found themselves inadvertently outed.

We thought nothing could shock us anymore after the Blagojevich scandal. And we were right. It comes as no surprise that Drew Peterson - still married to "missing" fourth wife Stacy Peterson - is engaged to a 23-year-old woman. Peterson confirmed the engagement with the eloquent, “I can't believe this is happening," he said. "How the f--- did this get out?" He also said the two had been dating for four months, which means she's not the 22-year-old who is not a hooker that Peterson was not getting physical with earlier this year. In case you're wondering, Peterson is still technically married to Stacy, though as we know, he's been working to remedy that (some might say since October 28, 2007).

Meanwhile, in other Drew-i-verse news, prosecutors aren't giving up the weapons charge against Peterson without a fight, having recently filed an appeal to Judge Richard Schoenstedt's November dismissal of the charges.

Earlier this week, we discussed the insane new parking meter rates that would go into effect if the City Council passed legislation allowing Mayor Daley to lease the meters to a private company. Well, they passed it by a vote of 40-5. Ald. Toni Preckwinkle (4th) opposed the measure, claiming she didn't have enough time to review it, prompting this amazing (and classic) response from Ald. Richard Mell (33rd):

How many of us read the stuff we do get, OK? I try to. I try to. I try to. But being realistic, being realistic, it's like getting your insurance policy -- it's small print, OK?

Yes, Dick, it's just like an insurance policy. Why would you need to read the entire thing? We will give him this, though: at least he's being honest. The bill also had opposition from Ald. Billy Ocasio (26th) who seems to still have something of a connect with reality, saying, "I'm sorry, but there are too many people in our city living paycheck to paycheck." Another tidbit about the new bill? Free Sundays and holidays are now a thing of the past and some meters will even require 24-hour payment. So explain to us again how the City can afford 2,000 new SUVs?

Do you do "dibs?" Since we're smack dab in the eye of the storm, with 5 inches freshly dumped on us and up to double that coming tonight and tomorrow, we figured this would be an appropriate time to discuss "dibs."

Despite the obvious problems with plowing this year, it's hard to defend the process that has become tradition in Chicago every winter. We've all seen the ironing boards and lawn chairs and milk crates in the street after every snowstorm. But a simple lack of space and effort involved in clearing it doesn't make it right, does it? Even our Esteemed Mayor Daley famously defended the process, equating things like vandalism and destruction of property to a "tradition." Right, in the same way that riots are a "tradition" after Bulls championship victories, Mr. Mayor?

In our completely anecdotal evidence of two days walking to the El and some rubbernecking out of the window, it does seem like dibs has diminished (at least for this year). Maybe change we can believe in carried a shovel with it. And a short, completely unscientific survey of the Chicagoist staff reveals a range of emotions from "dibs is the domain of total scum" to "we shovel other peoples spots because we're awesome human beings." (Which, of course, we are.)

It's understandable to feel that if you put in the sweat equity of clearing out some snow, you want to hang on to it for a while. But what happened to doing something for the sake of doing something good? As for anyone that breaks windows, slashes tires or puts glue in locks in spite, those people deserve swift kicks in the ass.

Here's a short list of some "dibs" resources:

Zorn discusses the etymology of dibs.
An interesting essay on "dibs" by law professor Fred McChesney.
Metafilter discussion on selling "dibs" by Wrigley Field.
A short "dibs" discussion from UofC equating it to property rights and patent law.
The LA Times looks at "dibs."
And finally, here's the last time we posed this question, 2 years ago.

We don't know about you, but we'll be out there with our shovels soon enough, heart attack risk be damned. Pay it forward and all. (That, and we don't have an ironing board we can spare to the elements.) Your thoughts?

"dibs" from Vittrad.

Not too long ago we ran down the final submissions for the 2009-2010 city sticker contest. Finally, a winner has been announced and it's Denise Ferguson, a senior at Corliss High School. There were entries from more than 350 high school students at 43 different schools around the city, but Denise's design (seen above) was paws and tails above the rest. More than 25,000 votes were cast at the City's website and Denise will receive a $1,000 bond. Oh, and having something she drew placed on over a million cars in the area. Congrats, Denise!

In the wake of Ald. Tom Allen (38th) calling out Mayor Daley on the city's failure to properly plow and salt/sand side streets following last week's and this week's storms (both past and future), other aldermen are now getting antsy for answers from MayDay on exactly what's going on.

Ald. Billy Ocasio is the most outspoken critic of the most recent city snow removal effort, claiming that when he personally called for help for his ward last night, he was passed from department to department --- making him wonder aloud "who's in charge?"

Ocasio (26th), who is joining Allen's call for $3 million to be added to plowing and salting efforts, said, "I don't think the resources are out there. I think if you come into the Loop, you see the resources, but you don't see them out in the neighborhoods. Yesterday I had to call personally and just go off on everyone because there are mothers and grandparents trying to get their kids to and from school, and they can't make it. They can't make it down the street."

Streets and Sanitation spokesman Matt Smith said the rate of snow plus its timing - happening at rush hour when many vehicles were on the road - complicated the matter for the department. Marisa Kollias, Illinois Department of Transportation spokeswoman, backed this argument, saying, "When the snowstorm hits during the rush hour, there is actually -- there's nothing anybody can do to prevent this kind of traffic nightmare from happening. We can only go as fast as the traffic. Our trucks aren't going over 10 mph. It's not something we can control."

Photo by Nick Suydam

If there's one thing we can be sure of, it's the high level of vitriol with which locals despise Macy's for forcing out Marshall Field's. But now we've come up with a plan that may allow you to get a little bit of revenge and help a charity in the process. Macy's is running a campaign this holiday season called Believe based on the New York Sun's famous 1897 editorial, "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus." Ha ha. Anyway. Each store is equipped with a "Believe Station" at which the young and young at heart can write a letter to Santa and drop it in the Santa Mail box. For every letter received, Macy's will donate $1 to Make-A-Wish, up to $1 million. So that got us thinking: how can we make sure Macy's has to shell out the full cool million and allows us to express our contempt for the store at the same time? Why, by stuffing the mailbox, of course!

We're encouraging our readers to write their own letters to "Santa" and stuff the box at the State Street Macy's. Heck, we're getting in on the act, too! Of course, this comes with a catch: you actually have to visit the Macy's on State Street to place your letter in the station. But we're sure you can get in and out before the stench of Macy's perfumes settles into your clothes and hair. Besides, it's for the kids! We sent writers/black-ops staff members Karl Klockars and Lauri Apple to get some pictures and they made it back alive with the report that the station is "in the center of the first floor, by the info booth and the fountain full of money." So now you know where to go. Also, if you want to spend as little time in the store as possible, head over to the campaign's site and print a letter out ahead of time.

In the spirit of the holidays, though, we'd like to ask anyone doing this to keep it clean. Don't cause the Make-A-Wish kids to cry, so keep the nasty "Fuck Macy's!" and death threats to yourself and keep it light-hearted. Our suggestion? Make item No. 1 on your list "Bring back Marshall Field's." Sends the message without getting the law involved. And for the record, our item No. 2 is a unicorn.

Let's get to it!

Inspired by a commenter on Fark who called our soon-to-be-former Gov. Blagojevich a "living Lego man," (as well as our previous South Park-itizing of the Gov.) we decided to do a side-by-side comparison and by god, the resemblance is uncanny:

In fact, Lego has announced a new play set, available just in time for Christmas:

Legoman image by dunechaser

The following ten groups released albums or EPs that we believe launched them far above the roiling masses making up the Chicago music scene. While these are our favorites it should be noted that this was an amazingly strong year for the local scene, and we could have easily made a top 50 list without much of a problem. In fact, just reviewing the bands while making this list we realized how thankful we are to be located in such a musically fertile city!

1. Tom Schraeder and His Ego
Lying Through Dinner EP
On his latest EP Schraeder often mixes Americana with the feel of a humid New Orleans bordello. Boozy, swinging strains spill out of darkened nightclubs into puddle-splashed streets. Rouged nipples brush inches away from the unshaven crevices of a miner's chin on the boozy sing-along "When You're Not Around," an excellent compliment to the soaring hopeful organ strains permeating "Guadalupe Cries." Schraeder expertly mixes the dark with the light creating a chiaroscuro effect on his compositions.

2. Local H
12 Angry Months
12 Angry Months deals with the intensely personal cycle of the demise of a major relationship and the year of fall-out that follows. It's not like break-ups are exactly unusual territory in pop music, but Local H's Scott Lucas has the undeniable talent to take an individual experience and expand its relevance to universally touch. Lucas still has a gift for injecting a darkly pretty melody into even the most abrasively angry guitar lines, and Brian St. Clair's drumming is both massive and tasteful. This is the near perfect album Local H has been threatening to make for years ... all it took was something deeply personal to allow them to make a universal statement.

3. Milk At Midnight
Less love More Acid
Milk At Midnight's sound is chimeric, with the primary sonic tether between tunes being the group's ability to graft memorable melodies onto craggy surfaces. The other connecting point is angry lyrics that both condemn and soar. The sunshine is there if you really quint and search it out, but eventually your eyes are going to tire and the light will temporarily slip from your vision again. It's the hope that keeps us going even as we stare wide-eyed at the horrors around us.4. Grammar
The Grammar Self-Titled Short Player
Grammar has the potential to grow into kings (and queen) of Chicago's orch-pop particular scene. The band's debut self-titled EP contains six songs of wistful and airy pop that flickers and twinkles, delighting the ears. Jaunty piano numbers melt into choirs of intertwining vocal melodies, politely restrained rockers descend from above, sparse and cutting acoustic odes seep in underfoot, and pleas for inclusion are folded into tiny synthetic symphonies and plinking xylophone runs. Sound like an earful? It is, but it'll leave you wanting more. Not bad at all for a debut EP.

5. Walter Meego
Voyager
Voyager is one hell of a first album. It's slinky, sexy guitar and synthesizer lines kiss and cuddle with each other, while the underlying beats seem destined to unleash a whole new class of freaky line-dancers getting ready to make babies. Their urbane, sophisticated delivery gives off images of disco balls, DeLoreans, glow sticks and day-long lollipops.

6.Fall Out Boy
Folie à Deux
Shut up, we don't care what you think. Once you get past Pete Wentz's celebrity antics and allow yourself to become enveloped by Patrick Stump's powerhouse vocals that forsake emo delivery for good old fashioned soul you'll begin to realize why Fall Out Boy's albums actually seem to be getting better as they get more famous instead of the other way around.

7.Prairie Cartel
EP 1
The Prairie Cartel's debut 12" successfully lays out the group's sonic manifesto in two original tracks, a cover, and a remix. Think of it as punk blood coating a Go-Go cage. The highlight of the EP is the cover of 999's "Homicide" since it does the best job of offering the group a chance to let their talents for truly mixing the big rock with the surging dance. In our opinion it also does the best job of capturing the group's electric at times careening live show.

8. Textbook
Boxing Day Massacre
Boxing Day Massacre is equal parts All, Uncle Tupelo, and Cheap Trick. "Desperation Free" is the sort of song that lyrically appeals to the eternal 15-year-old in us, while sporting a a musical envelope that would fit equally well on Fuse or in the back room of Hideout. Textbook is one of those weird beasts that we could see the kids going gonzo over while the older crowd hangs near the back by the bar and tips perspiring bottles of PBR the band's way in admiration.

9. Big Science
The Coast Of Nowhere EP
Big Science came out of nowhere during the latter quarter of this year to blindside us with their glam-pop. Their '80s-inflected pop would have put them in permanent rotation on 120 Minutes between vintage Cure, INXS, and XTC. And believe us, we mean that as one of the highest compliments we can offer to a pop band. [Download the EP for free]

10. Parks and Gardens
Avec Cloture
Parks and Gardens doesn't really deviate from the form of loop and sample laden rockin' designed with the discotheque in mind, but instead of utilizing those elements to create a cliche they inject an angular artsiness into their songs. In effect this creates a minor agitation in the listener, and we think that's kind of a bold move for any band trying to ingratiate themselves with a crowd not particularly interested in anything beyond basic Sybaritic pleasure.

Today marks the 50th anniversary of the tragic fire at Our Lady of the Angels Catholic school that ultimately claimed the lives of 92 children and three nuns. Over the past weekend, several vigils were held to remember the victims of the fire, including yesterday's public mass at Holy Family Church. Della Maffiola remembered her son Joseph, who was 10 when he was killed in the fire. "It feels like yesterday," she said. "It was like going back 50 years. I went back in time. You wait for your child's name. I couldn't light the candle. My hands were shaking." The ceremony also honored the survivors, firefighters, and other first responders involved in the tragedy.

The fire started that afternoon in the basement and burned for half an hour unnoticed before it spread to the first and second floors. The school's interior was made entirely of wood and a highly flammable wax had been used on the floors. In addition, with only one fire escape and no fire alarm to speak of, the fire spread quickly, trapping many of the children and nuns inside the school and making escape almost impossible. Firefighters arrived within minutes of the call, but the fire had been burning so long by that time and smoke was so widespread, many children died from smoke inhalation. The tragedy was the impetus for major reformation in fire safety in schools and public buildings around the country. For more information, including an extensive photo gallery and information, check out the Our Lady of the Angels Fire Memorial website.

The huge banner containing an image of President-elect Barack Obama and makes it pretty obvious that Hideout's owners and staff were pretty vocal supporters of the dude when he was running for office and are tickled pink that he's about to take the reins.

So it's no surprise that they want to get in on the inauguration day festivities! To that end they've teamed up with Interchange, chartered a few buses and are packing in some of their favorite musicians to play a pre-inauguration party called The Big Shoulders Ball: Chicago Celebrates Change at The Black Cat in Washington D.C. January 19. So far the performers include Tortoise, Waco Brothers, Eleventh Dream Day, Jon Langford, Sally Timms, David "Honeyboy" Edwards, Ken Vandermark, Freakwater, Icy Demons and Judson Claiborne ... though you can bet there will be some special guests announced as the date draws closer.

Get your $50 tickets after 4 p.m. today at either The Black Cat's site or head on down and pick them up directly from Hideout. A portion of proceeds will benefit the Chicago Public Schools marching bands program and the Future of Music Coalition.

Hot damn, this is gonna be a helluva party!

UPDATE: Andrew bird has been added to the line-up.

First, there was the video game look-a-like. Then, we South Park'd him. And this week we noticed how much he looks like a Lego man. How we missed this one we don't know. Joining the ranks of this year's Presidential and Vice-Presidential candidates, Gov. Rod Blagojevich gets the Cabbage Patch Kid treatment. Those cheeks, those eyes, that hair; they nailed it. We're sure the Obama Administration is thrilled about the endorsement as well. [via]