It's a rare condition in this day and age to read any good news on the newspaper page. more ›

There's trouble in 'American Idol' town - last season's winner and Mount Prospect native, Lee DeWyze, was not asked to perform with past winners in this season's final episode last week. Considering DeWyze was last season's "Idol," wouldn't it have made sense to include him in the finale as a performer? more ›

Guess the hype machine for the NFC Championship game has kicked into overdrive if this is a news story, huh? When the National Anthem is sung Sunday before the biggest sporting event at Soldier Field since Dempsey-Tunney (/sarcasm), it won't be by hometown favorite Jim Cornelison. Instead, the NFL (with a likely Joe Berrios-style suggestion from Fox) has bestowed the honor American Idol winner Lee DeWyze. more ›

In spite a not-so-mesmerizing performance on the last night of competition after which most folks thought opponent Crystal Bowersox would take the title easily, Mt. Prospect's Lee DeWyze was voted as the winner of this season of American Idol. Of course, it was much to the delight of his hometown of Mt. Prospect who held a large outdoor viewing party for the finale. Still, while DeWyze's win was not a shocker, it came after he closed out his run Tuesday night with a pretty lackluster performance of U2's "Beautiful Day" which lacked more energy than some Dan Fogelberg albums our parents used to play when we were kids. more ›

Mount Prospect's Lee DeWyze survived last night's final cut and is headed to next week's American Idol final showdown against Crystal Bowersox. DeWyze's performance last night included the below rendition of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" much to the giddy delight of the judges (Simon had actually selected the song for Lee). more ›

• The FDA is looking into Walgreens' plan to sell genetic testing kits.
• UConn President Michael Hogan is the top choice to become the new president at the University of Illinois. Related: a 9.5 percent tuition hike at the school is on the way.
• A tentative start date of November 1 has been set for Chicago businessman Tahawwur Rana's terrorism trial. Related: Fox does us all an alarmist favor by listing the top 10 terror targets in town.

The American Idol Live! Tour is headed to Chicago ... are you excited or very, very afraid? Come to think of it, what are your thoughts on the current season as a whole? more ›

Happy Birthday, Mom! more ›

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! more ›

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. more ›

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. more ›

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 you, 110 pound, 5'11 model, might look good in a bubble skirt or trapeze dress, most of the women buying clothing off the racks will want something flattering and wearable for their frames. more ›

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 Northern Suburbs of Chicago, following the recent release of their dynamite single, 'Intentions.'" Sadly, Chicago reps 100th place as well, with the ironically titled Elgin-based Rejection Letter coming in at last place with a whopping 127 votes to its name at press time. more ›

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... more ›

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,... more ›

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. more ›

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: more ›

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 anything. OK? OK. more ›

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... more ›

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... more ›

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... more ›

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. more ›

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... more ›

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. more ›

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. more ›

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... more ›

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 two episodes on the country music industry’s answer to AI. more ›

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... more ›

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... more ›

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... more ›