We love American Idol, but not because we like hearing offbeat covers of Top 40 classics. If nothing else, when the audition episodes start airing in mid-January, we suddenly see the light at the end of the winter tunnel, knowing that by the time the confetti is falling around the next media-generated pop star, it will be summer! Chicago has a local, and more fabulous, version of our road-to-summer soundtrack. The Windy City Gay Idol......

Our summer to-do list just got better: Get a tan. Ride our new bike. Listen to a live performance of “Part Time Lover” while eating 10-ticket pizza with 3 million people! Stevie Wonder is set to return to the Taste of Chicago on June 28, twenty long years after the last time he played our little local tourist trap festival of food. As always, the Taste of Chicago will take place from June 27 to......

More fascinated by Kelis' milkshake than Daniel Plainview's? Is the only Oscar you'll watch living in a garbage can? Then this Sunday probably means nothing to you. You're burnt out on the "glitz" and "glamor" of the night, not to mention the drama surrounding that writers strike. Of course, it's never too early to make alternative plans! While all your friends and compulsive gamblers are setting up their Oscar pools and getting ready to check......

This week's installment of Project Runway played out like a roller coaster of emotions. The designers were given the challenge of clothing for real people (yay!), retooling "fat clothes" from women who had lost significant amounts of weight, ranging from 45 to 160 pounds. Although the contestants tend to bitch and moan every time they're forced to design for, gasp, a non-stick frame, we always enjoy seeing what they have to offer. After all, while......

Voting for Lollapalooza's Last Band Standing contest officially began on June 1, and Chicago is already leading the pack. Although the standings are always changing, when we last checked the leader board, four out of the top 10 bands were from our fair city, with Evanston-based Rachel Metter at the top of the list with 1727 votes at press time. The band's profile says it has "gained a fan-base among high school students in the......

Apparently, Simon Cowell is a big supporter of the fight against hunger. Shocking, we know. But it just goes to show that just one day of working alongside volunteers of America’s Second Harvest, as shown on the "American Idol" show a couple weeks ago, can soften even the hardest of hearts (sorry, Simon, you can be kind of a toughie). The organization serves as a network for more than 200 food banks and food-rescue organizations......

Richard Swift is feeling low. "But Chicagoist, he is a singer-songwriter on an indie label." Point taken, but the real story here isn’t Swift’s state of mind or how many pages of palpable insecurities he can fill in one of those black-and-white spotted composition books – it’s the style and grace with which he yanks a real showstopper out of a sound that could easily teeter on the brink of cliché. His 2007 release,......

We’re a little behind the times here at Chicagoist. While we knew the moment that Sanjaya was kicked off of "American Idol", some technological advances pass us by. Which is why we now proudly present to you, the audio book. Our mom used to make us listen to them in the car when we drove to our grandparents’ house, all badly voiced and torn up cassettes from the library, and we vowed never again to......

Things are looking up for some Chicagoans on the boob tube, and for some, the yellow brick road of fame has ended suddenly, let’s recap: Our girl Gina Glocksen has been kicked off “American Idol”. We’re sorry to see her go and in part, blame votefortheworst.com for her downfall. Votefortheworst is the anti-Idol website that encourages visitors to vote for the least likely winner. Interestingly enough, votefortheworst is run by Dave Della Terza from Chicago.......

We don’t want you all to think that Chicagoist only cares about “American Idol.” So what if we run home from deep dish pizza dinner to make sure we can catch it. So what if we shush our significant other just as Chris Sligh is coming out to work his magic. And so what if the first thing discussed in the office today is whether Stephanie has lost her zing. Doesn’t mean we’re hooked or......

Well, what can we say about “American Idol”? Our Naperville girl Gina Glocksen is hanging in there, good for her. There’s way too much going on around her, she’ll be sticking around for a couple more weeks at least. We think she’s pretty. And a quick note about Sligh, we happened to have liked his rendition of "Endless Love". If the judges don't want potential idols messing with the songs, they should stop telling them......

As Jennifer Hudson's 15 minutes of fame approach the 14:30 mark, at least she doesn't have to worry about going hungry. Yesterday, Burger King gave the Chicago native free burgers (and anything else she would like) for life. What is the connection? American Idol judge Simon Cowell was miffed that Hudson didn't thank the show in her Oscar acceptance speech. Hudson allegedly responded by saying, "If I'd been any better at my job when I......

Another Friday, another snowstorm, another installment of Empty Out Your Wallet. This week we’re not so inclined to whip out the credit card as we have been in past weeks, but here we go. We honestly didn’t know these guys were still around writing songs for the Adult Contemporary crowd. Apparently, they are still popular enough to fill up the Vic. Five for Fighting is best known for "Superman (It's Not Easy)," which was the......

It’s not often that the American public surprises Chicagoist. We’re usually pretty good at guessing the trends of middle minds across the country, but last night we were surprised … twice. Luckily for Chicagoist, we got our TiVo back good as new. We must say it is a relief when watching the American Idol results show. The hour-long show is easily cut down to 15 minutes since we don’t need to see them dancing and......

Austinist gets arty with an interactive guide to SXSW, loved some local art galleries and a new art exhibit and lamented the possible loss of "Friday Night Lights" production to New Mexico. Bostonist was happy they finally found an Anna Nicole Smith connection to their fair city and that an Apple Store was opening up. They were less happy that new rules have been established limiting underage shows and that their Governor is spending......

The fairer sex showed us last night that "American Idol" might still able to produce an "American Idol." After the identity crisis of the men on Tuesday night, the women came to show the dudes how it's done. Our two natives, Gina Glocksen and Leslie Hunt did OK. We weren’t particularly blown away by either. We know Leslie is a well-loved hometown girl, and we do like her pretty midwestern looks, but she needs to......

We’ve been a little lax in our American Idol viewing in the past few seasons. We got into it last year when sexy Chris Daughtry started to win, and then felt both a little let down and a little justified when Taylor Hicks won. But this season we have TiVo, and that changes everything. We tuned in last night after watching The Hills (seriously, how can Spencer treat Heidi that way, and why does she......

The media elite and tenured intelligentsia are making you feel like an unwashed plebian if you aren’t fawning over Fermilab or Millennium Park. And you’re sick of your relatives braying on about thrilling tourist traps like Medieval Times and Six Flags. You know better, don’t you? For the rest of the month, the Illinois Tourism Bureau gives you the chance to make your alternative views heard… and then promptly drowned out by the voters who......

Some days it seems like the next time we have to interview for a job that the only way that will happen is on television. Of course, we’re not sure who would watch America’s Next Top Admin Assistant. It also seems like television is the top way for a band to get that next boost forward these days. Nashville Star is no American Idol in terms of ratings, but Evanston native, Meg Allison, has survived......

Ring the alarm! Beyonce's on the lookout for a whopping 40 back-up dancers, and she's coming to Chicago on her search. She searched in Atlanta and Los Angeles before stopping in her hometown of Houston, TX, on Saturday for another round. New York and Chicago are her final two stops. Thirty dancers will be chosen from each city and flown to L.A. or New York, where the final 40 will emerge. The open call for......

The Sun-Times ran an AP wire story today that's mostly good news with a sprinkle of bad news for lovers of music, though that depends on your persepctive. Overall, music sales were up for the year 2006. While sales of physical albums declined 4.9 percent, digital album sales doubled, and sales of digital singles increased 65 percent. What’s refreshing about this story is that it doesn’t feature any dunderheaded analysis (or fulminating quotes from industry......

As 2006 ends and 2007 begins, the -ists look back not at the past week, but at the past year. So here it is, your Best of 2006 Spectacular. And from all of us at the -ists, happy New Year! Austinist was all about controversy as new construction to increase urban density ran rampant in 2006, as did threats to the city's image from gigantic corporations looking to set up shop in town, leading......

Standing on the bus this morning, we glanced at another rider’s Red Eye, where a Golden Globes article was visible. The images featured Borat and Chicago native Jennifer Hudson, with a headline to something of the effect of “surprise nominations.” While the movie about a crass Kazakh is a bit perplexing, Hudson’s nod is anything but a surprise. While we are waiting like everyone else to see the much-lauded film version of the hit 1981......

We knocked ourself out at the Chicago International Film Festival and RESFEST|10, and we see no reason to end our film-addicted ways. So already we've been perusing the schedule for Reeling, the 25th Chicago Gay & Lesbian Film Festival. It's the second-oldest festival of its kind in North America, and when they say they're proud of the diversity of their offferings you know they aren't kidding -- we spied romantic comedies, avant-garde shorts, provactive dramas......

Public humiliation seems to be the new fad sport. From "American Idol" to those people dressed as fruit that you see sometimes, everyone wants in on the chance to exploit themselves. Even still, we at Chicagoist are not sure if that was a smart move on Dr. Rich Mitchell's part. Mitchell was hired as superintendent of High School District 228 in the south 'burbs in 2004. Apparently he and some of the board members are......

Torontoist visits the site of a new Frank Gehry structure, stalks "the elusive Bahamas streetcar", and watches Tom Green get surgery. Phillyist rejoices in the Phillies' wild card chances, mourns the injuries sustained by Eagles defensive end Jevon Kearse, and goes pirate on our asses. SFist notes that Guns and Roses were in town, that San Franciscans are taking over reality TV, and that the San Francisco Chronicle's skills of original nomenclature could use some......

San Francisco is proud host of a new reality show called "How to Get the Guy" that's unfortunately not a descendant of Will and Grace, Queer Eye, The L Word, American Idol etc. Also a biodefence lab is coming to the East Bay and SFist teaches wine pairing. Getting on the wrong train sucks. Getting on the wrong train and becoming the victim of what will later be described as a "stabbing spree" really sucks.......

Congratulations people of Chicago, and, for that matter, people of Illinois – Despite our best efforts, we were unable to find one story of your misdeeds worthy of a This Week in Stupid mention. We assume you’re like us and found it hard to concentrate, this being a short week and all. In fact, we had to go as far as New York to find the stupid. While you bask in the glory of unstupidness,......

The weeks starts out right when a sucker punch on the field lands Chicagoist in the middle of a Sox/Cubs throwdown and the fists continue to fly in the comments. Despite suburban resident Ms. Pinney's best little try no books will be banned anytime soon and the El is really really gross. Houstonist is there to start compiling the punditry when when the guilty, guilty Enron verdict comes down. This guy seems to be able......

You’re not likely to find anyone in the Chicagoist Music Department watching “American Idol.” Maybe if you paid us. (And gave us a big box of Cheez-Its. We love those damn things). But that doesn’t stop us from secretly wishing we had the God/Clive Davis-like powers to determine someone’s career trajectory. So perhaps that’s why we’ve spent way too much time this morning at the Walter E. Smithe website, as voting closes today on its......