Yeah, we admit it. We're pretty stoked Lupe's playing Grant Park for free. And here's the tune that made us first fall in love with the brainy and verbally brawny rapper. more ›

GQ Magazine has named Chicago its 2008 City of the Year, concentrating on four different categories: Film (Batman, check); Literature (Aleksandar Hemon, check); Architecture (Spire, um...); and Politics (Mayor Daley? Seriously). Okay, so maybe we have a few issues with some of the things they picked. Hizzonah is not exactly high on our happy-with list right now. Still, what with Obama's election and the Olympic bid, we guess we understand the focus on our fair city right now. At least it's better than that New York Times story. more ›

The Sox and Cubs sit atop their respective divisions, Chicago resident and Illinois Senator Barack Obama is set to be named the Democratic Presidential candidate, and Chicago made the short-list to host the 2016 Olympics. Some have suggested that the summer of '08 is Chicago's "moment", to which we say, "Really? Just now?" Yes, Chicago has seen some great success stories so far this year: Tracy Letts' August: Osage County has a Pulitzer and is expected to add a Tony while Alinea's Grant Achatz has made headlines for his fight with cancer and for being a pretty damn good chef. And with all the other things about our great city that we love, we can understand why there's a swell of civic pride. We just think expectations should be tempered a bit. The Cubs are due any day now for their annual collapse, this year's election will be one of the most hotly contested in recent history, and we have a long road to travel before we secure the 2016 games. more ›