What was slated to be an ordinary hip-hop concert has turned into a mild boondoggle of ‘they said/they said/they said’ proportions between an up-and-coming rap duo, Near North concert venue the House of Blues, and the Chicago Police Department. more ›

Chicago News Cooperative will cease operations on February 26. more ›

After a veritable smorgasbord of professional setbacks, The Cool Kids will finally release their full-length debut, When Fish Ride Bicycles, exclusively through iTunes. To celebrate the occasion, Reggie's Rock Club is throwing a party on Tuesday. more ›

We always eagerly await the Chicago Reader's Best of Chicago issue - especially the food and drink section, of course - for two reasons. First, it allows us to vehemently disagree with the results of the public polls (Paulina Meat Market beats Butcher and Larder? Margie's Candies beats Black Dog Gelato?) and because of the great categories the critics come up with so they can include the restaurants they want to include. more ›

Trust us, a redesign can be a bit cathartic. The Chicago Reader launches an all new redesign of its print edition, with several events across the city to celebrate the relaunch. It's a marked facelift from the tabloid format in which it's lingered in recent years. The glossy covers and stapled pages suggests more of a magazine than a newspaper, which Creative Loafing chief sales officer Alison Draper told Tribune media columnist Phil Rosenthal is intended to make the Reader less disposable than in the days where folks would pick up copies of "The Old Gray Doorstop" and pocket the music section as a reference guide. In addition to the redesign, including two glossy covers, column names have been dropped in favor of the columnists names and the music section, long one of the Reader's strengths, has been expanded and re-branded. Now known as the "B-Side," Editor Mara Shalhoup told us that the expanded music coverage is one of many links between the paper's past, present and future. more ›

It looks as though Geoff Dougherty, most recently Associate Publisher at the Reader for the length of time it takes us to make really good limoncello, has resurrected the online portion of Chicago Current. Chicago Current was, at one point, a print and online concern. Before that Dougherty said at the the Chicago Journalism Town Hall could cover news with its predecessor, Chi-Town Daily News, as well as the Sun-Times and Tribune with only a cool $2 million budget. more ›

What does the neighborhood you live in say about you? That is a question popping up all over the place in a variety of ways lately as the City faces a significant change in leadership. more ›

Music journalist/critic/author Jessica Hopper has had a long-time presence in Chicago's critical community, and for good reason. Her columns and writings have always been provocative food-for-thought, whether it's tackling the sexism of modern-day emo, or talking faith (or lack thereof) with former Pedro The Lion frontman David Bazan. more ›

Over at the Reader, Chic-a-go-go founder Jake Austen follows up on his stellar story from last year about the lost Jackson 5 recordings by again interviewing Larry Blasingaine about his history with the group. more ›

Reader editor Kiki Yablon worked her final day at the paper yesterday and Michael Miner, who has detailed the struggles and shrinking resources of the paper for years, captures his final moments in dealing with her. Miner writes that Reader publisher Alison Draper called Yablon's resignation "bittersweet" and that she expects a new editor to be named by mid-February. Miner's peeks behind the curtain at the Reader have been engaging reads, both in print and on the blog. As more staff has left the paper, we've long viewed Miner's dispatches as keeping the flame of the paper's past alive, and Miner himself as the canary in the coal mine: if he goes, all bets are off. more ›

Logan Square Kitchen has had a tough first year. Despite their immense success, the support of their alderman and lots of love from the Chicago food press, the shared-kitchen concept simply doesn't fit in with current Chicago zoning laws, which can't seem to decide whether the spot is a shop, a restaurant or a production space. In reality, LSK is all three, and provides an important space in Logan Square for community organizing. It also allows start-up businesses who cannot afford their own store a place to manufacture products. The Chicago Reader ran an excellent profile of the owner, including her troubles with inspectors, multiple licenses, and the general incoherence of the city's response to these issues. The ridiculous rules and regulations (Can they have tables? Must they provide parking? What about event permits) have led the owner, Zina Murray, to predict that she will be out of business by January, regardless of her success as a business owner. more ›

Baconfest Chicago, which easily outgrew its Stan Mansion location this year, is looking at the new, pristine UIC Forum at Halsted and Roosevelt for its 2K11 edition, reports the intrepid Mike Sula. Pencil in the date for April 9, 2011. more ›

Yesterday we stumbled across a story from the Chicago Reader about who's going to get custody of hundreds of files about the prosecution of Al Capone. The man who dug up those files is the author of Get Capone, Jonathan Eig, who you might recall we spoke with a while back. Since they're deciding the fate of those historic boxes of legal stuff right about the time we post these 'casts, we thought we'd hash out the recent history of these pieces of history. more ›

When it comes to having awesome outlets for good music on wax and CD, by Rolling Stone’s estimation, Chicago is doing pretty well. The magazine’s recent list of “The Best Record Stores in the USA: The top 25 spots for unique vinyl and CDs, from San Francisco to Boston” shows Chicago’s record stores snagging three spots on the list. Wicker Park’s Dusty Groove came in at #3, Laurie's Planet of Sound in Lincoln Square landed the #11 spot and Lincoln Park-based Dave’s Records made the cut at #24. more ›

Born out of the minds of two musicians with a penchant for wacked-out comedic stories, Abraham Levitan of the band Baby Teeth and Chicago Reader writer Brian Costello created a game show like no other: Shame That Tune. Hosted by Levitan and Costello and co-hosted by "The Coach," a.k.a. Time Out Chicago Books Editor Jonathan Messinger and "The Intern," a.k.a. Jeanine O'Tolle of the Chicago chamber-pop collective, The 1900s. more ›

An eyebrow-raiser in the local media world this morning: The Reader's Mick Dumke, who's produced some of the best investigative reporting in the city over the last few years, is departing the weekly alt-paper for the Chicago News Cooperative, according to Reader colleague Michael Miner. It's a big name pick-up for the CNC and one who, for once, doesn't have an extensive background at the Tribune. In a talk with Miner, Dumke insists his departure isn't a protest over the firing of long-time editor Alison True, but that after that firing, "the conversations intensified." more ›

Privatizing city assets has been a hot topic over the last year and a half here in the city, especially given the debacle that was the parking meter hand-off. But what about an agency like the CTA? How would that do under privatized control? The thing is, it's happened before. In this week's Chicago Reader, Robert Loerzel explores, in depth, the city's previous stint of privatized public transit. It's an engrossing, extensive read so get comfortable. more ›

Former Chicago Reader film critic Jonathan Rosenbaum has been as busy as ever since he "retired" from active duty at the paper. You could even say he's picked up the pace; a quick look at the Publications & Events page on his website will set your eyes a-swimming. A new essay, which will appear in expanded form as explores themes that will also be part of his forthcoming book Goodbye Cinema, Hello Cinephilia: Film Culture in Transition, examines how people's viewing habits have changed: more ›

Well, technically it is, as the Chicago Reader points out, but there's a catch and the stalled bill before the legislature still must pass before it becomes available. Check out the whole story here. more ›

In a delicious bit of coincidence this week, the Reader printed its Asian carp edition just as Jews around the world prepare to celebrate the Passover holiday Monday night. more ›

Whether you're happily coupled or bitterly single on this February 14, we all know what the dating trenches are like. We've all lived out our fair share of rejection, drunken regrets and yes, even sometimes, poopy pants. The storytelling gurus at 2nd Story decided to compile some stories of failed happily ever afters, and tonight you can hear them at Mismatched: Horror Stories from Chicago's Dating Front. more ›

Harold Washington Library Center, 400 S State, 6 p.m., free more ›

The Rhinoceros Theater Festival, now in its 21st year, started up last weekend and will run through February 14. Presented by Curious Theatre Branch, RhinoFest showcases “a wild variety of fresh new solo performance, live art, avant-garde theater and experimental music.” There are also some pretty sweet art installations on display in the lobby. We didn’t get a chance to check it out last weekend, but it’s on our list and should be on yours too. more ›

This week, we're counting down the top 9 stories of 2009 according to the Chicagoist staff. more ›

Former divisive Chicago Reader columnist Liz Armstrong is back to giving the inside scoop on parties, except this time with New York City as her audience and NY Mag as her outlet. The current online editor for the equally divisive Vice Magazine, Armstrong recently profiled the queer women's party circuit for NY Mag's Reasons To Love New York year-end round-up. Armstrong's topics and choice of words have always had a tendency to rile up audiences and judging by the comments on her post, New Yorkers and Chicagoans have a lot in common when it comes to their opinions on Liz Armstrong. more ›

Ben Joravsky and Mick Dumke of the Chicago Reader told us about the city's "shadow budget" earlier this fall. Last week, after filing FOIA requests, the pair finally got their hands on the document. And today they finally break it all down. more ›

In the Chicago Reader's profile of Joe Laiacona, running for the State House in the 40th District against Blago's sister-in-law Deb Mell, Hunter Clauss mentioned Laiacona's petition challenge to Mell's candidacy, centered on a conflict of Mell's address. But thanks to a ruling earlier this week, the Reader follows-up, it looks like Mell is in the clear. more ›

A few weeks back, Joe mentioned the race in the state's 40th District, pairing incumbent State Rep. Deb Mell (a.k.a. Blago's sister-in-law) against Joe Laiacona, an openly gay candidate who, among other things, writes a leather fetish column. In this week's Chicago Reader - out today - our pal and former Chicagoist political writer Hunter Clauss writes an excellent in-depth profile of Laiacona, including his side-projects, the campaign, and the petition challenge against Mell. Check it out here. more ›

Ex-Tribune folks are everywhere these days. The latest example is over at The Reader, where a former Tribune managing editor, Jim Warren, has been appointed publisher. Warren said in a statement, "I believe the Reader can be an even greater success if it is provocative, makes those in power squirm and yet is willing to entertain and have fun. I hope I can be of help in renewing and reinventing the print version and finding new audiences on the Web.” The Reader's Michael Miner has more on the hire. more ›

Mayor Daley's budget for 2010 has been presented and, as expected, there were no new taxes but lots of cuts. There will also be much taken from the parking meter lease fund. In fact, by this time next year, don't expect much to be left from the $1.15 billion/75-year deal, the deal we may have gotten hosed on. Having already spent $400 million of that money this year, according to the Tribune, Daley is looking to spend an additional $600 million of that money in 2010. We're no math geniuses and even we know that doesn't leave a whole heck of a lot left in the pot for the remaining 70+ years of the lease, something that concerned Ald. Scott Waguespack (32nd) earlier this week. All told, Daley claims that there will still be around $700 million left in reserve funds - the combination of the Skyway and parking meter leases - next year. A cut in the city's tourism budget also raised eyebrows. And besides the cuts to entertainment and furlough days for non-union employees and elimination of vacant jobs, there are smaller cuts, too, such as the scaling back of the city's recycling program. more ›