This week, sample edible books, learn about Tagore, and see an opening of chiaroscuro paintings. more ›

The Art Institute, DePaul Art Museum, Chicago Cultural Center, and Rhona Hoffman Gallery open new shows this week. more ›

Steve Dahl returns to Haymarket Pub & Brewery for tonight's bears game. Martha Bayne talks Soup and Bread tomorrow, A noted piano player plays a free gig at the Cultural Center Thursday. more ›

Chicago’s avant-garde collective Umbrella Music kicked off its sixth annual music festival Wednesday, leaving no doubt this year’s crop of visiting artists and Chicago stalwarts deserve a spot in any jazz fan’s weekend plans. more ›

Today we shine a light on freebies from the Chicago History Museum and Chicago Cultural Center. more ›

Today's listings include a documentary screening at the Cultural Center tonight and an Oktoberfest celebration at Small Bar Division Saturday. more ›

The city continues to pay respects to Don Cornelius's baby on its 40th anniversary. more ›

Today's listings include the Chicago Short Comedy Video and Film Festival, Jackalope Theatre's Living Newspapers Festival and a drunk trolley to the Captain Morgan Club. more ›

The New York-based City Winery has been rumored to be looking at the Carson Pirie Scott building for a Chicago location scheduled to open in the fall. In an attempt to begin planting local roots, City Winery and its founder, Knitting Factory founder Michael Dorf, have teamed up with the KFAR Jewish Arts Center to launch what they call Chicago's first annual Downtown Seder at the Chicago Cultural Center tomorrow at 8 p.m. more ›

Things are finally picking up in terms of spring weather, so why not get out of there and spread some literary goodness around? more ›

Cinema Q, a four-week series at the Chicago Cultural Center, highlights some outstanding movies made in Chicago which explore gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered themes. Kicking things off on March 16 is the essential documentary Quearborn & Perversion. In it, filmmaker Ron Pajak chronicles the GLBT history of Chicago, unearthing some priceless stories and surprising facts. Indeed, the documentary's title refers to the nickname given to the neighborhood of Dearborn and Division, where several clandestine gay bars once operated. (Isn't it a bit ironic that Chicago's former gay 'hood is now known as the Viagra Triangle?) Pajak will be present for a post-screening Q & A. more ›

It's looking to be a heavy week for literary events in Chicago. So strap on your reading glasses and peruse the events on our radar that we think it worthwhile to check out. more ›

Yes, the rumors are true - former president Bill Clinton will be stopping by the Chicago Cultural Center on Tuesday, January 18th to rally for Rahm Emanuel. But as some may have expected, Clinton's visit to Chicago isn't necessarily a visit that everyone is excited about. more ›

Michele profiles a gallery and studio in the Chicago Cultural Center for artists suffering from mental illness and disabilities. more ›

Kevin has some never-before seen images from street photographer Vivian Maier from a second collector. more ›

Lately other local media have been catching up to the unlikely story of the late street photographer Vivian Maier, whose pictures would have made one amazing "Around Town" gallery. In fact, they sort of did. more ›

Nothing says happy holidays like too much time stuck inside with the family. Besides, the next week or two will bring an end to a lot of great exhibits around town, so consider this your last chance to get out and see some fantastic shows we’ve mentioned before. Get your family out of the house, see great art, maintain family togetherness. Win-win-win. more ›

Philip Glass is as close to a household name as living composers get these days. He's been referenced in South Park and The Simpsons and made an appearance on The Colbert Report earlier this year. His musical style is immediately identifiable and, just as important to his renown, has pervaded our culture, either through his own numerous and highly visible works (for example, he composed the film scores to Thin Blue Line, Candyman, Kundun, The Truman Show, The Hours, and Fog of War, among others) or through his massive influence (Brian Eno and David Bowie were early devotees). more ›

Again, we should reiterate that Sonar did a fine job in regards to its Pritzker and Smart Bar shows. And, again, the acts featured at CCC were worthy of playing the festival and should most definitely be seen and heard as forward-thinkers in experimental music. However, if this festival is going to survive here, we need some punch--not listening sessions, but concerts. more ›

We don’t read as often as we should. With such a short window of warm sunny days, we’d rather spend the time with friends outside. And those pesky desk jobs seem to cut into our reading time, too. Ironically, work is where we seem to have the most available free time. If only we could whip out a book instead of waste all that time mindlessly scrolling through Tweets and our Google Reader subscriptions, we’d have so many more intelligent things to add to happy hour conversations. To solve this problem, Get Lit at Your Desk explores some online literature that’s right here in Chicago. more ›

In the opening scene of Ayn Rand’s Fountainhead, architect protagonist Howard Roark sits on a stony crag and ponders the power and poetry of the wood, stone, water, and nature around him. He summons that power to create architectural masterpieces. Walking through Louis Sullivan’s Idea, the new Cultural Center exhibition, it was hard not to think of Roark. Just as Roark’s unbounded brilliance goes unappreciated as he fades into obscurity, this exhibition traces Sullivan’s career as one of a tragic genius that was misunderstood in his own era and misinterpreted in ours. more ›

Why does there seem to always be several great concerts on Sundays at 3:00 p.m.? Seriously, help a classical music fan out. Anyhow, pick one of these, you can't go wrong. more ›

The 11th annual SKALD storytelling festival kicks off this afternoon and runs all week. The festival celebrates the art of storytelling, which is rooted in the history of almost every society. The workshops and performances focus solely on the storytellers and the quality of their stories and aim to strip the theater of all its "dazzle camouflage." If you’re interested in checking it out, here’s what you need to know. more ›

Here at Chicagoist, our motto's always been "When it's right, it's right." This then raises the question: Why wait until the middle of the cold, dark night? That's the thinking of two Chicagoist faves, Anaphora and Third Coast Percussion, each of whom has scheduled some afternoon delight for this Sunday's day o' love. more ›

Tod Browning's 1932 horror classic, Freaks, was far ahead of it's time both in casting and ideology. Browning cast real carnival sideshow performers in lieu of faking their natural deformities through costuming and makeup. Though fictional in plot, the film is a poignant statement on honor and prejudice. more ›

Gottlieb Hall at the Merit School of Music, 38 S. Peoria, 7:30 p.m., $20-$40, $10 students more ›

CIFF is over but a rich cinematic harvest has only just begun. Feast your eyes: more ›

With the weather being all gray and gloomsville as it has been lately, making art at home seems like a preferable alternative to actually leaving the house to go places/have a life/recreate. But Chicagoist understands that some of you might have no interest in making art whatsoever, or might be allergic to the chemicals in paint, so here are some artsy events you can check out instead: more ›

There are probably few of you reading this who remember what it was like to gather 'round the radio for the newest installment of The Shadow, FBI In Peace And War, or The Green Hornet. Actually, we only know of one for sure (Hi Dad!). But just because you weren't there the first time around doesn't mean you won't enjoy some classic entertainment. For tonight only, The AFTRA/SAG Senior Radio Players present Fog from "The Whistler" and Mr. Sycamore from "The Columbia Workshop," two radio scripts originally broadcast in 1942 and 1937, respectively. more ›

We’re kicking ourselves for waiting so long to see the Cultural Center’s exhibition of works by Chicago-based photographer Jed Fielding—Look at me: Photographs from Mexico City. The exhibit, which closes on Tuesday, July 7, displays Fielding’s candid portraits which intimately examine facial features and gestures of blind children, affirmatively stripping away self-consciousness while celebrating their lives and confronting the concept of “disability”. The photos were taken at children’s schools for the blind in Mexico City, in collaboration with the children, their parents, as well as teachers. more ›